Frozen: The Return
by sonicking2004
Summary: The day Elsa was crowned as Queen of Arendelle proved to be one of change greater than anyone could have foreseen, both for the Kingdom and for Elsa personally. When a stranger arrives several months later during the Winter Festival, with powers as mysterious as her own, will his coming herald a change of good or of disaster.
1. 1) Unexpected

**Unexpected**

It has been about 5 months since Elsa's coronation as Queen of Arendelle, as well as the events that day which changed her life so dramatically. Since the day of her accident involving her sister Anna, Elsa had spent her days in isolation, afraid of hurting others with her powers over Ice and snow, like she'd hurt her sister; and fear of others learning about the powers she'd kept hidden, of their fear driving them to hurt her. Even greater than her fear was the loneliness that she felt in her isolation, a loneliness that only grew stronger and more painful 3 years ago when her parents, the King and Queen, were lost at sea, leaving Anna and her alone in a mostly empty castle.

The day of Elsa's coronation was the day that all her fears came true. When she had a fight with Anna about her accepting the marriage proposal from the handsome prince Hans (a decision that Elsa now totally blamed herself for, due to her sister craving the love that Elsa had denied her at the time because she'd been afraid of hurting her again), Elsa was provoked into accidentally revealing her powers to the entire kingdom. When she fled to the North Mountain, she had inadvertently put Arendelle into a deep freeze that threatened everyone and provoked the Duke of Weselton into sending two of his men to try and assassinate her. And when her sweetly stubborn sister tracked her down to try and persuade her to return and set things right, Elsa's fear caused an outburst of power that came extremely close to killing Anna.

It was only when Anna had sacrificed herself to save Elsa from the duplicitous Hans, an act of true love that actually saved Anna from the ice in her heart that was killing her, it was then that Elsa saw that she'd been handling things all wrong. The key to controlling her powers was not being afraid of them, but rather accepting and using them, and love was the key to reversing the effects of her ice powers.

Since that day, Elsa had gained the acceptance of the people, become one of the most popular and loved monarchs Arendelle ever had. In fact, her popularity had started to become as big of a problem as her difficulty controlling her problems was, and as the now-strained relations with Weselton (with whom she cut off trade relations with due to the Duke's actions) and the Southern Islands (to whom she deported Hans back to) now threatened to be. Eventually, the frequent and increasing requests for her to use her powers led her to proclaiming certain "snow days", on which she would turn the palace courtyard into an ice rink and to create an area where the kids could build a snowman or two (which she assured their parents would not come to life like Olaf or Marshmallow.) Additionally, she declared that any requests for ice must instead be made to ice cutters like Elsa's now-official boyfriend Kristoff, who made their living on the sales of such.

If came as a relief when the first days of Winter arrived and Elsa was finally able to relax somewhat and just be herself. Even more so, Elsa was glad that the people's love for her did not lessen just because they didn't have as great of a need for her powers anymore. Not that she didn't use them this time of year, of course. With her new-found control, she was able to keep the fjord and the waters beyond free of any ice that may cause ships serious trouble, making Arendelle's port one of the safest in this corner of the world.

One of the things that she was most grateful for, though, was the renewed close relationship with her sister. One of her greatest regrets from the events past was that she allowed her own fear to keep her from spending more time with her sister when they were kids. And while they will never be able to get that time back, Elsa was determined that they will not waste another day.

And so it was that Elsa practically dragged Anna out of bed today and helped her get dressed, excitedly insisting that they cannot be late. Today was the start of the annual Winter Festival, and the one this year was especially significant for Elsa. Not only was it her first Festival as Queen, but it was also the first one that she'd been to since the accident that marked the start of her own dark days.

As they reached the field near the lake where the Festival was to be held, Elsa and Anna were greeted by cheers and applause by everyone present, and Anna received a kiss on the cheek from Kristoff, who'd been waiting by the entrance. As they made their way through the crowd, Elsa made no speeches but instead proceeded to the center of the clearing. Then, after asking everyone to take a few steps back, Elsa set to work on using her powers to create the centerpiece she'd been planning for this day. When she was finished, everyone gaped in awe at the giant ice sculpture she created. Over 25 feet tall and set on a large pedestal, also made of clear ice, were beautiful life-like statues of the late King and Queen looking happy and serene, their arms linked and their free hands raised in a wave, as if they themselves just arrived.

As the crowd passed by her, complimenting her on her work and thanking her for coming, as they went to pay their respects at the beautiful monument Elsa had just created, her servants Kai and Gerda laid comforting hands on her shoulders as Kai said, "Your parents would be so proud of you."

"I sure hope so," Elsa said as she smiled back at them.

Then, with the solemn moment through, the Winter Festival began in earnest.

There was events ranging from sledding and snowman building, to skiing and figure skating. Of course, lovable Olaf wanted to participate in them all, though he pouted a bit when informed that he wouldn't be allowed to take place in the Pie Eating Contest. Elsa herself didn't participate in most of them, but she took great delight in the joviality around her. Of course, one thing she did do was go skating with Anna, and Elsa had to admit that her sister was getting rather good at it. Elsa concluded that the time she's spent practicing with her since the coronation had really paid off, and when Kristoff took her place as Anna's partner, Elsa thought that she spotted more than a few jealous glances directed at him by the guys (even the ones who had partners), despite that Kristoff looked better suited to walking across the ice rather than skating gracefully across it.

So integrated was she in the happy atmosphere that almost felt it immediately, like a sudden drop in air pressure, as one of her soldiers came running into the clearing, and from the expression on his face he was not in a Festival mood.

"Your Highness!" the guard said in a frantic tone as soon as he caught his breath, "In the ocean out beyond the fjord, there's a….we actually don't know what it is! An unusual weather pattern?"

" 'Unusual weather pattern'?" Elsa repeated in confusion.

"That's the only way I could think to describe it, Your Highness," The soldier explained, "It looks like a low hanging cloud moving along the ocean's surface. However, it's rather small for a cloud, and it's not spreading out the way a fog cloud would be. And it's moving steadily towards the fjord."

_That certainly does qualify it as being "unusual"_, Elsa thought to herself, _ It may be nothing more than a curious anomaly, but… _ Aloud, Elsa said, "I'm going to check it out real quick. You guys say here and enjoy the festival, and I'll let you know what I found out when I return."

Of course, nobody listened.

* * *

By the time Elsa and the soldier had reached the docks at the fjord, with Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and most of the others from the Festival following behind her, they all saw that the anomaly had already moved past the fjord's threshold. As such, they all saw that the soldier's description was fairly accurate. What was moving across the water did indeed look like a small cloud, one that you might see on a warm summer's day. However, Elsa knew that clouds only appeared to be small because they were so high up in the sky. This, on the other hand, was on the surface of the water, and was not showing any signs of dispersing.

When the other soldiers, who had been watching the strange object guardedly, saw Elsa and the others approaching, they immediately took up defensive positions around her, with a couple taking point before Anna.

"What is it, Captain?" Elsa asked one of the soldiers.

"I do not know, your highness, but it has showed no sighs of slowing down or stopping since we first spotted it," the captain admitted, "I recommend that you and the princess retreat to the castle, and that the citizens return to their homes while we sort this matter out."

"Wait," Elsa said as an icicle with two flat ends formed in her right hand, "let's determine what this thing is before we start getting everyone alarmed."

Elsa then put the icicle to her eye and used it as a spy glass. Looking at the magnified image, Elsa still thought it looked like a cloud. A perfectly ordinary cloud, with the only odd things about it being its low altitude, and its formation at said altitude. Just as Elsa was about to give up on puzzling it out, she spotted something jutting out of the top of it. Concentrating on the icicle growing longer to increase the magnification, she saw that the object she spotted had a very distinctive shape.

"A crow's nest," Elsa breathed, then louder she said, "It's a ship! There's a ship in that cloud!"

This news spread through the watching crown like a wild fire as they began to discuss it nervously.

"Who is it?"

"Are we being attacked?"

"Mommy? Why is that ship traveling in a cloud?"

Elsa heard all of this, and even the captain's repeated suggestion that she get to safety, but her mind flashed back to that dreadful moment 3 years ago when her parents left on their trip and never returned. Back then, she'd prayed and hoped that they would turn up okay, that they merely had been blown off course by the storm and lost their way. However, when everyone gave up after finding no trace of them or their ship, eventually Elsa had to resign herself to the fact that they weren't coming back.

Looking though her Icicle again, she scanned the object all over until she saw the tattered remains of a flag on another mast jutting from the top of the cloud. There wasn't much left of it, but what little she saw told her that it wasn't her parent's ship, nor did it belong to any country that she was familiar with.

Her heart sinking from the surge of false hope, Elsa turned over who it might be in there. Either they were simple traveler or merchants who got caught up in that strange anomaly, in which case they could ne in trouble of crashing into the dock or another ship because they cannot see where they're going; or those inside may actually be creating that cloud somehow, in which case they may be attackers using the cover to hide their true intentions. Either way, Elsa decided that the cloud had to go!

Unleashing a wave of her power, Elsa directed it at the cloud cover in order to turn them into snow clouds that she could manipulate. As she started to move it away, however, what she saw shocked her so much that she lost her grip on the cloud and it moved back into place; the area of the hull she'd exposed had a large hole that went down to the water line, and it showed a hollow space inside that gave a clear view of the opposite hull, which was itself riddled with holes, and the clouds on the opposite side.

As she stared at it in shock, she heard the others muttering about it being a ghost ship. For one dreadful moment, she once again thought it might be her parents, coming back because they were displeased with her about creating a statue of them for the Winter Festival. As soon as that thought crossed her mind, however, she shook it off, as she'd concluded earlier that it couldn't possibly be her parents' ship. But who could it be, and how is it possible that the ship is still floating?

It was a moment before she realized that the captain of her guard was trying to get her attention. "Your Majesty?" the captain asked urgently, "Your orders?"

Before she could say anything, the ship shed the cloud cover on its own as it drew nearer to the docks, and Elsa heard more than a few people screaming in fright. She couldn't blame them; this vessel looked more ghost than ship. With tattered sails, whole sections seemingly floating in mid air, and more holes in the hull than wood, Elsa could not see how it was holding itself together, much lest still floating. And yet it was, as it glided effortlessly into position at one of the docks.

What was most disturbing to Elsa, however, was the fact that there seemed to be no one on board. Not a single soul. Even the mooring lines, each of which was tipped with a metal cap, seemed to move of their own accord as they tied themselves to the posts. As the remaining mists around the ship continued to clear, Elsa amended her earlier assessment as she saw a single figure just now leaving the wheel. When he leapt over the railing towards the docks, Elsa saw him clearly for the first time and her heart caught in her throat. The man was unspeakably gorgeous! With his close-cropped and wind-swept brown hair, the small scar on the left side of his chin, and his eyes as deep blue as the sea itself, this stranger's rugged appearance put even the finely groomed handsomeness of Hans to shame. Elsa couldn't place his style of dress, save for that it appeared simple and functional, but that didn't matter to her. What drew Elsa's attention to him was his eyes, for while they seemed to have experienced joy and laughter, horror and triumph, anger and peace, what Elsa saw buried in their depths was sadness and pain, a pain that revived an echo of the pain that she had felt some months ago, the day after her coronation

As soon as the man's feet touched the pier, the ship he was on suddenly fell apart as it collapsed into a mass of flotsam by the port where it had been tethered.

"Sorry if I startled you folks," The man said with a hint of weariness in his voice as he dusted himself off, "but I didn't have the opportunity to repair my vessel properly before I left my last port, and I'm afraid that most of the repairs I did make came undone during my journey here. I figured that the cloud cover would be much less alarm inducing than seeing something sailing in that should be resting on the bottom of the sea."

"What….how…" Elsa stammered, then she shook her head to clear it as she asked, "Who are you?"

"My apologies for forgetting proper etiquette, Your Majesty," them man as he bowed low and introduced himself, "My name is Julian Hynes of Wistermere, and I have traveled long and far over the seas of time to be here today."


	2. 2) Kindred Spirits

**Kindred Spirits**

As Elsa stared at the newcomer who'd just introduced himself, many questions rolled through her mind: "Where is Wistermere?", "Why is there so much sadness in your eyes?", "How did you create those clouds?", "How was your boat floating when it clearly should have sunk, and why did fall apart after you stepped off?", and so on. However, feeling strangely tongue-tied, all Elsa could manage to get out was, "Your boat…"

Looking over his shoulder at the fjord, where his ship was floating as a mass of debris, the newcomer Julian shook his head wearily as he said, "Oh, sorry again! My weariness is making me forget all sorts of things today." As she watched, Julian flexed his fingers, and Elsa could have sworn that she saw tiny bolts of lightning flash between them. Then, as the crowd who'd followed her from the Winter Festival gasped in surprise, the ship wreckage floated out of the fjord and flew through the air until it stopped and stacked itself neatly (as neatly as a bunch of misshapen pieces of ship wreckage can) on the ground near the farthest corner of the docks. "I know how hard you've been working to keep this dock safe for visitors, your Majesty," Julian continued once he turned his gaze back towards Elsa, "and it wouldn't do for one to simply allow their vessel to fall apart and become a hazard for others to wreck their ship on, now would it?"

Feeling herself becoming warm and flustered under his gaze once again, Elsa simply responded, "No, I don't suppose that it would."

Thankfully, Elsa's social butterfly of a sister saved her from coming up with a more concise response as she introduced them, "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hynes. I am Princess Anna of Arendelle, and this is my sister, Queen Elsa."

"My Lady," Julian greeted her as she grasped her extended hand and touched the back of it with his forehead as he bowed, "and please, call me Julian. I feel like you're talking to my father when you call me Mr. Hynes."

"People called your father 'Mr. Hynes'?" Anna asked him.

Julian chuckled kindly at the simple question shortly before clearing his throat and saying, "No, My Lady, I guess they didn't. I suppose if they called him anything, then it would be 'Your Highness'."

Anna, who had not been expecting that response, was taken aback and eyed him skeptically as she asked, "You're a prince?"

Elsa understood where Anna was coming from. Even though she herself had been unable to identify the style of fashion Julian was wearing, the simple attire was not that which she was accustomed to seeing any royal wear.

Feeling the sisters' scrutiny, Julian chuckled good-naturedly as he said, "I understand your skepticism, My Lady, but it is true that at one time I was considered a Prince, but it's been a long time since I referred to myself as one. And even longer since I felt like one, so please don't stand on ceremony for me." As he turned his gaze back towards Elsa, Julian continued saying to Anna, "I didn't come to talk about that, however. I'm actually here today because of your sister, the Queen."

"Me?" Elsa asked in surprise, felling uncomfortable being the focus of this change of topic.

"Yes," Julian agreed, "You see, like yourself I too have a gift. An ability that, for a time, I had little understanding or control of. That lack of control….well, let's just say that it cost me something very dear to me. After I found out about you, learned that you were very much like me, I just had to find a way to come here. I had originally wanted to get here earlier, while you were still young, because I wanted to teach you how to master the use of your powers. I had hoped that, by doing so, I could help keep your life from following the path that mine had. However, no matter what I tried, I could not get here then. The currents were simply too turbulent to allow me passage. Fortunately, you seemed to dodge that bullet, and you seem to have learned a great deal of control all by yourself. I know that I have no right to be, as I had no part in your education, but I am real proud of you."

Elsa suddenly had a very uneasy feeling about this guy, and as she glanced over she saw that her sister was feeling the same way. Of course it was easy to understand Anna's unease: the last guy who had claimed to have similarities with one of them had tried his level best to kill them both. While that did bother Elsa as well, there were other things that struck a wrong note with her, like how this guy said that he'd tried to get here when she was younger in order to teach her how to use her powers. How, when he's clearly the same age as her, could this Julian character have possibly gotten here or taught her anything useful, especially since he claimed to have trouble controlling his own powers when he was younger?

Before Elsa could ask any of the questions of him, or even to decide to simply get him a new ship and tell him to take a hike, a different question sprang to her lips as she asked, " 'dodge that bullet'?"

Julian looked rather sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck and said, "Yeah, that's an expression from one of the places that I traveled to." At everyone's questioning gaze, Julian continued, "A bullet is a deadly projectile from a weapon called a gun. I won't get into detail here about how it works, as I don't want to cause problems by possibly introducing elements that might upset the balance of the place. As for the saying, what it means is that you managed to avoid having your life take the same tragic turn that mine had."

Julian took an unsteady breath and cleared his throat before continuing, "Anyway, as to the point of my visit, part of it was simply to meet you, Your Highness. Also, even though I did not arrive soon enough to impart any of my knowledge when it would have possibly benefited you, I still felt that I might have a service that I might render for you. A gift, of sorts, one that even your sister might enjoy. In fact, the entire kingdom might benef…"

"Hold on, hold on, stop," Elsa said interrupting him, "First you cause a commotion by sailing in here with your strange clouds and impossibly not-sinking ship. Then you claim to be from some kingdom that I've never heard of and talk about wanting to have come here sooner in order to teach me, even though you're clearly not old enough to have done so. Now you say you want to give a gift to, not just myself or my sister, but the entire kingdom? Just who are you?"

Julian sighed and scrubbed his fingers through his hair as he said, "I had hoped that that I could avoid talking about myself. I find it much more comfortable to simply help out others when I can. However, I suppose that it's not unreasonable for you to not be willing to accept a gift from someone who's pretty much a total stranger to you, no matter how generous it is." He then cups his hands together and breathes into them, as if he was trying to warm them up, before saying, "Very well, I'll tell you what you wish to know, although I'm not sure if that'll make you more likely to trust me. As I mentioned earlier, our stories are very much alike, but it'll be easier to show you than to tell you."

"What do you mean…" Elsa started to ask, but she trailed off as Julian turned his back to her and formed a rectangular box with the thumb and forefingers of both of his hands, much like an artist "framing" a scene in an attempt to capture it on canvas. Then, as he pulled his fingers apart from each other, the crowd gasped in surprise as miniature bolts of lightning shot out from his fingers that formed the box. With them hanging in mid-air and ending where they touched each other, they formed a larger box with Julian's hands serving as the opposite corners. Then Julian pinched his thumb and for fingers together and stepped back, leaving the lightning frame hanging in mid-air where he'd formed it.

As she watched, a window of sorts formed within the frame, showing her an image of a kingdom that she was not familiar with. With a palace of an unusual design, though not unpleasant to look at, and surrounded by trees that she'd never seen in person before, although she'd heard they existed on some islands and southern peninsulas, it had the appearance of a land in which winter was a foreign concept.

As the images changed, revealing themselves to be more than still pictures like the paintings Elsa's castle, Julian turned towards them and narrated what was unfolding, "This is Wistermere, the place that I used to call my home. It was here that I'd lived with my father and mother, who were indeed the king and queen of the land, as well as my younger brother Miles. While most people referred to us as princes, our servants more commonly referred to us as 'the little terrors', and I suppose they had good reason to call us such."

Elsa watched as an unsuspecting servant passed by a suit of armor just as it raised its arms and yelled menacingly, causing the servant to drop her tray and run the other way, screaming in fright. Then the armor fell apart, revealing a pair of young boys, one of whom must have been the young Julian, who were laughing their heads off.

"If we weren't actively trying to scare the servants, then we were tearing through the palace on one of our wild games, where our sudden appearance would frighten them nearly as much. When I discovered my powers for the first time at age 5, our reputation only got worse. The sound of the servants' screams when they saw us hanging from the ceiling like a pair of bats…" Julian said as Elsa saw Julian and his brother, whose hair was standing out in all directions, standing on the ceiling of a ballroom as easily as anyone else standing on the ground, then as they yelled to draw the attention of a servant who entered, who immediately ran back out screaming. Looking back at the adult Julian, Elsa heard the smile in his voice as he continued, "…priceless."

"How did you guys do that?" Kristoff asked curiously.

"Static electricity," Julian said simply, then when Kristoff still looked confused, Julian waved his hand at the image, which froze in its playback, as he added, "Here. It'll be much easier to show you." Then Julian reached into a pocket on his outfit and pulled out a small and brightly colored floppy….thing that was roughly shaped like an oval except for an odd bit jutting out from one end. Then he placed that end to his mouth and blew into it, and immediately the thing expanded and took shape. As Julian continued to blow into it, the item continued to grow and expand, from the size of a small egg to the size of a large avocado. When the thing was the size of a small watermelon, Julian finally stopped blowing into it and twisted the one end into a knot. Then he threw it to Kristoff, who caught it as it slowly floated back down and asked Julian, "What is it?"

"It's called a balloon," Julian explained, "It's one of the interesting things I've discovered on my journey. They come in many different colors, and are often used as decorations at parties or as toys for the kids, sometimes both at the same time. They can be filled with a gas that's lighter than air, which makes them fly. However, for our demonstration, this will serve our purpose. Now I want you to place the balloon against the collar of your coat and rub it against it vigorously."

Kristoff looked skeptical, but he did as he was asked, rubbing the balloon against the fur collar of his coat until Julian told him to stop a few seconds later. "Now I want you to place the balloon against the front of your coat and let go."

When Kristoff did as he was asked, everyone was surprised to see that the balloon did not fall when he let go, but rather stayed there clinging to his chest. Anna poked at the balloon from the side, which caused it ti roll a short ways across Kristoff's chest, then asked curiously, "How…?"

"When Kristoff rubbed the balloon against the fur collar of his coat, the friction caused the balloon's surface to be charged with static electricity," Julian explained as he came over and removed the balloon from Kristoff's chest, then ran it over a little boy's hair, which caused the hair to stick to it and the boy to giggle. Finally, placing the balloon against the short wall behind him, Julian continued, "That charge causes certain things to cling to each other, like balloons, certain articles of clothing, flat surfaces like walls, and so on. Of course, to have something heavier, like a person, stick to something like the wall, you'd need a much stronger static charge, but even back then I had plenty to spare. I didn't understand any of this back then, though. All I knew was that I had a talent for making things stick to other things, and to cushion the fall of things as well, and my brother had no problem convincing me, with those big brown eyes of his, to use that talent in our playing."

"I think that our parents saw the danger inherent in my abilities, though," Julian continued as the scene shifted to show Julian's father in the throne room talking sternly to the boys while the mother was seated nearby. Elsa couldn't help noticing that the father looked a lot like the Julian talking to them now, only perhaps a little older. "When I was about 11 years old, my father decided it was time to lay down the law. At the time, I'd believed that it was because we'd lost so many servants due to our childish pranks, and that our family's reputation was getting ruined due to our behavior, and our father's lecture seemed to reflect that as he ordered us to stop it immediately. I loved and respected my father, and I wanted to please him, so it was nothing for me to promise that we would stop scaring away the servants with our playing."

"Miles, on the other hand, needed a bit more convincing, as he protested why our games had to stop," Julian continued as, in the scene, the younger brother broke into tears, "Before our father could get back into his lecture again, though, I promised to take him back to our room and to explain it to him so that he'd understand. Personally, I think that he was glad to let me do it: our father had never seemed comfortable around tears."

Julian then fell silent as, in the scene, Julian led his little brother back into their room. Once there, Miles turned his watery eyes towards the young Julian and wailed, "Why? Why do we have to stop playing?"

Young Julian looked down at his precious little brother with a lopsided smirk and said, "Who said anything about 'stop playing'?"

This reply shocked Miles into stopping his crying as he said, "But….but you told Father…"

"…that we'd stop scaring the servants away with our playing, and I meant that." Young Julian finished, "Let's face it, Miles, what we were doing to them was simply mean, and we Hynes are anything but mean. But that doesn't mean that our games have to stop."

Miles, an excited and hopeful light in his eyes, asked his brother, "You mean…?"

"Yes," Young Julian confirmed, then as Miles jumped around excitedly, Young Julian continued, "…but we'll have to be careful about it. We'll play ordinary games while it's still light out. Then at night, when everyone else in in bed, that's when we'll have our special fun."

Miles then rushed over and hugged his big brother as he said, "Thank you, Jules! Thank you!"

This was starting to sound too uncomfortably familiar to Elsa. It wasn't that she believed that Julian was making it up somehow, as the evidence she was seeing with her eyes was hard to ignore, but rather that she could see where it was all going, and it wasn't anywhere good. If Julian saw Elsa's concern, however, he gave no sign as he turned towards the image and stroked his finger around the outline of his brother's face as he said, "I was always a sucker for those big brown eyes. And the games we had: Late night tag around the chandelier of the ballroom, Hide-and-seek in the Great Hall. Our fun had no boundaries, and even gravity couldn't bring us down until I was ready to let it! We were bold, we were daring!" Then Julian, his back still towards them, drew in a ragged breath and continued, his voice changed from being thick with emotion, "We were fools, and I was the biggest fool: a child, playing with a dangerous tool as if it was the greatest toy in the world."

As Julian turned back towards them, Elsa saw that his eyes were filled with tears, but he was apparently making an effort to not let them spill over as he cleared his throat and continued, "It was about a week before my 13th birthday, and my parents had been working with me all day preparing me for it. It was more than a simple birthday, you see: all of our friends and allies would be coming, as that would be the day that our parents would be announcing that I would be the one who would inherit my father's crown. Of course, none of that mattered to my precious little brother. He'd been sitting around all day being utterly bored while I was put through my paces. Finally, after dinner was eaten and we'd told our parents goodnight, all I wanted was to collapse in my bed and get to sleep. Miles, however, wouldn't hear of it: he wanted to play. I pleaded with him to let me sleep, that I'd play with him tomorrow, but Miles begged me to play just one game with him, and I never could simply tell him no. I should have told him no, but I figured one quick game of ceiling tag wouldn't hurt."

As the scene within the frame shifted to the ballroom, Julian narrated the events unfolding within, "I hadn't noticed it before then, but as we had gotten older my brother had gotten much faster. After less than a minute since we started that evening, my brother had me tagged out. I wanted to call the game right then, but my brother insisted that I hadn't had my turn as 'it'. I figured that I'd be able to convince him to call it a night once I'd caught him. After all, I'd always been able to catch my brother when no one else seemed able to; not the servants, not the guards, not even my parents. However, once again I hadn't counted on my brother's increased speed, his agility, his sheer determination to not let the game end so quickly."

Julian then paused the playback and walked over to the balloon, which had remained stuck to the wall, and removed it as he explained, "One thing to note about static electricity, while it does cause things to cling to one another, if you were to separate the clinging objects then some of that charge would be discharged. If the charge is high enough, then you can reattach it, but the charge will be weaker." To illustrate, Julian reattached the Balloon to the wall, then he removed it again as he said, "If you continue to remove the object from the surface, then the static charge will continue to get weaker and weaker, until…"

As Julian placed the balloon against the wall one last time, it did not remain sticking there like before, but instead fell to the ground. The mother of the boy, whose hair Julian had demonstrated the static's properties, hugged her son close with one arm and placed the other hand over her mouth as she asked, "You mean…?"

"Yes, ma'am," Julian answered her sadly, "I do."

As the woman used both arms to hug her son, Julian turned back towards the others and continued, "I didn't know it then, but each time one of us had tagged the other, each time that we passed something between us, each time we made contact for any reason I had charged my brother and what he wore with static electricity. However, as my turn as 'it' wore on without my even coming close to catching Miles, his static charge grew weaker and weaker with each footfall. After several minutes had passed, I was about to try again to declare that he had won the game when it happened…"

As the crowd watched, a laughing Miles was running from his brother. Then, as he placed his right foot against the ceiling and lifted his left to take his next step, everyone gasped in fear as they saw that his right foot didn't remain sticking to the ceiling, and Miles started to fall towards the ground.

As Julian paused the playback one more time, Elsa saw that his eyes were threatening to overflow and she heard the tears in his voice as he said, "You have to understand, I had caught us from falling a good number of times by creating a cushion of ionized air, 'though we were both falling at the same time then. If I had just jumped off to try and catch up with my brother, then things might have been different. If I had simply let him fall, then my brother might have had some serious injuries, but he might had still had a chance. However, fear and panic had clouded my judgment, messed with my aim, caused me to use too much juice. And so…"

Then Julian resumed the playback, and everyone winced and jumped back in fear as, with a loud crack that sent a chill down Elsa's spine, a bolt of lightning passed from Julian's hand, through Miles's chest, and struck the floor. As Miles reached the place where Julian's bolt had struck, everyone saw that he indeed did bounce from an invisible cushion before landing on the ground more gently, but they also saw that it did not matter; there was no signs of life anymore in Mile's eyes.

Elsa saw as the tears that Julian had been holding back finally spilled over as Julian said, "And just like that, as quick as a bolt of lightning, my brother was gone. My big-hearted, fearless, loving little brother, dead before he'd even hit the floor; taken from this world with my own two hands."

For a moment, Julian was too overcome with grief, so everyone's attention reverted back to the window, where young Julian had leapt down from the ceiling, catching himself the way he'd intended to do with his brother. Then he raced over to and cradled Miles in his arms, begging his little brother to wake up, but Miles did not respond.

It wasn't clear whether the were responding to the sound of unnatural thunder or to Julian's cries, but as the King and Queen raced into the ballroom it was clear that their worst fears were being confirmed.

"Miles! Oh, Miles!" The queen cried as she raced over to them, then she gathered her son's lifeless body into her arms and sobbed uncontrollably.

The king laid one comforting arm on his wife's shoulders and, without looking at him, he asked young Julian, "What happened?"

"It was an accident, we were playing, even though you told us not to!" young Julian cried, "And then Miles fell, and I tried to catch him, but my power….I broke him! My power broke him! I'm so sorry, Dad!"

The king then looked over at his son, whose face was streaked with tears, and he reached over to draw young Julian into his comforting embrace. Little Julian, however, reacted to the arm as if it were a snake. "NO! DON'T TOUCH ME!" little Julian screamed, startling both his parents, then as he backed away, he continued more quietly, "Please! My power will just break you too!"

Little Julian backed up for a couple more steps, then he turned and ran out the doors his parents had just entered, leaving the king to call after him, "Julian? Julian!" But he did not get up to go after him. Instead, the king embraced his sobbing wife and his dead son as his own tears started to flow in earnest.

"If only I knew then what I know now, I believe that I could have brought him back, saved his life," the older Julian said suddenly, drawing everyone's attention to him just as he finishes drying his tears.

"What do you mean?" Elsa asked him.

"Well, you know what happens when your power should happen to strike the heart, right?" Julian asked. When Elsa nodded her confirmation, Julian continued his exlpanation, "Well with my power it's different. A strong electric jolt will cause the heart to stop, causing death nearly instantly with brain-death to follow within minutes. However, if a second, and precise, electric jolt should be administered before the latter occurs, then the heart may be restarted and the person revived. However, I didn't know any of that, nor did anyone else around there. All I knew was that my brother would never be able to ask me to play with him ever again, and it was all my fault."

"Once my parents got over the shock of the death of their youngest son, they tried to console me, to get me to come out of my room. However, I had locked myself in to prevent anyone else from being hurt by me," Julian said as the story continued, "Eventually, when it came time for the funeral, they had to hold it without me. My parents told everyone that Miles had died in a tragic accident, completely downplaying my role in his death. I didn't want that, though. I wanted everyone to know. I wanted to be punished. I wanted to see my brother one last time and ask him to forgive me. Eventually, it all became too much: the pain, the guilt, the unwanted comforting. So I did the only thing that my stupid, childish brain could come up with: I ran away from home"

"If I had chosen to run off to the mountains or the jungle, things might have turned out quite differently," Julian added, "However, I wanted to get as far from home as I possibly could. So, in the latest of a series of bad decisions, I stowed away on a boat owned by some traveling traders."

"I had thought that I was rather good at hiding, but playing Hide-and-Seek in a large palace that you're well acquainted with is quite different than doing the same on a boat you hardly know. So it hadn't been more than a couple of hours since the ship cast off before I was discovered and brought before the captain for questioning. These merchants weren't local, so they did not recognize me as the nation's prince, nor did I volunteer that information, as I did not want to go back. If they knew who I was, I'm sure that they would have turned right around and brought me back home, and in doing so avoided what was coming."

"What do you mean?" Gerda asked Julian, "What was coming?"

"My punishment," Julian said simply.

When his statement was punctuated by the sound of thunder, everyone looked back at the image to see that the ship was now deep within a storm, with turbulent waves battering the ship back and forth.

"At least that what I thought the storm was that seemed to spring up out of nowhere; my punishment for 'breaking' my brother, for daring to run away from home. Only this storm was so bad, I was afraid that it wouldn't just take me, but also every person on this ship as well. In desperation, I asked them to turn around and take me back, even revealing who I really was. But by then the sailors were too busy trying to save their ship to bother listening to the ramblings of some dumb kid who'd snuck aboard."

"In horror, I watched as the men were washed overboard in droves and subsequently swallowed by the waves. As their number dwindled, I was determined to save who I could. I wasn't exactly physically strong back then, but I did have my gifts to compensate for that. By shimmying up and electrically anchoring myself to the main mast, I was able to keep the main sail taut, not to mention taking the brunt of the lightning strikes and protecting the mast from being destroyed like the other masts were. I didn't know it then, but I was doing work that would have taken more than 10 seasoned sailors to perform."

"In the end, my efforts hadn't saved anyone," Julian said solemnly, "As the captain, with a small smile and a salute at me, was taken at last by the sea, I was left alone on board a ship I didn't belong on. Suddenly, I was no longer scared or sad. I was angry. These sailors did not deserve to die! My brother did not deserve to die! Why was the only guilty person here, me, still alive!? I must have been out of my mind, but I started demanding that the storm take me. I threw everything I had at the sky, daring that it strike me back!"

"I challenged the sky, and the sky responded."

As they watched, little Julian's lightning strikes into the clouds were reciprocated with so many lightning strikes occurring simultaneously that, for a moment, the image was far too bright for anyone to look at directly. This was followed by a sound of thunder so loud and deep and primal that even the most hardened of Elsa's guards cringed in fear.

As the light from the image started to dim enough for people to look at again, Julian continued, "It wasn't until many years later that I learned that I had stumbled that day onto a hidden application of my gift, or that I'd chanced upon the answer to the mystery of the area the people of this world would end up referring to as 'The Bermuda Triangle', a mystery that they were still trying to solve nearly 300 years after I was born. As I awoke back then, however, I was certain that I must have died after all. I believed that because the city I was sailing towards was quite unlike anything I'd ever seen or read about before in my life, so I was certain that it must be Paradise. It was a city of wonders!"

As the others saw what little Julian saw, the crowd gasped in awe, and even Elsa found herself amazed. She could understand Julian's perspective, fir she too had never seen anything like it before. The ship Julian was on passed by a small island, situated on which was an enormous green statue, which appeared to be as tall as her own palace at it's highest point, of a woman wearing some sort of crown, holding a torch high in one hand and cradling a pair of tablets in the other arm. Beyond the statue was a wonder of a city. Appearing to be situated on a larger island due to the twin rivers on either side, all Elsa could see from the perspective presented to her was a mass of towering buildings, the smallest of which had to be at least twice as tall as the statue. With their faces gleaming from the sunrise reflecting off of so many windows, it did appear to be what one might imagine as Paradise.


	3. 3) Home Lost, Home Found

**Home Lost, Home Found**

As the others looked through Julian's window in awe as the magnificent city his younger self was sailing towards, Anna breathed softly, "What kingdom is this?"

Julian suppressed a chuckle as he answered with a smile, "Actually, it's not a kingdom at all, it's not even the capitol city of that nation. That there is New York City, and while it is the nation's most populated city, not to mention one of the most populated cities of the world, it is but one of many cities in the nation known as the United States of America, or US for short."

"I had never heard of that country," said a sailor in the crowd.

"I would be surprised if you had, good sir, assuming that my knowledge of today's date is correct," Julian responded, "The original thirteen colonies, which ended up being the start of this great nation, weren't founded until 1776, or about 103 years after I was born."

Elsa gaped in surprise, and she saw that she wasn't alone in that shock. That meant that her initial assessment was correct and that they were about the same age, with him only about a year or two older! But then…. "Wait, are you telling us…?" Elsa started to ask.

"That's correct, your Highness," Julian confirmed, "When I first spoke to you of sailing 'across the sea of time' to get here, I wasn't merely speaking in metaphor. In fact, the night of the storm was when I had inadvertently sent myself on my first journey across time."

"The year I awoke in was 1988, although it would be some time before I learned of that," Julian continued his explanation, "Once my ship arrived at the docks I used a broken mooring line to disembark, though I did not bother to secure the ship as I figured you 'can't take it with you.' Looking back, I now know that my arrival had cause quite the commotion, as ships like the one I came on had not been used in….well quite some time. None of that mattered to me at the time, though, for my eyes were filled with the wonder before me."

"Buildings so tall that I could not see the top. Carriages that moved without animals to pull them. Boxes of different sizes that either put out music or showed moving pictures. Lights of various colors that came on or turned off without anyone to come along and light them. I figured that if I was going to be Judged, then this would not be a bad place for it to happen in."

"I was closely examining one of the poles that held those strange lights, curious about how it worked, when it happened," Julian continued, "A spark flew from my hand and into the pole, causing sparks to shoot out of the top and all of the lights on it to go dark. This seemed to have an adverse effect on the 'angels' around me. At first they were startled by the sparks from the pole, then they all looked at me and started yelling. I did not understand what tongue they were yelling in, but I understood the tone and the feelings behind it: fear, anger, hatred. I tried to tell them that it was an accident, to ask them to not touch me, but I don't think that they understood me either. So I did the only thing I could do under the circumstances: I ran. Not because I was afraid that they would hurt me, because I'd accepted that would be what my punishment was ultimately going to be, but because I was afraid that they get hurt in the process. I already had the deaths of my brother and all of those sailors weighing on my soul; if those alone did not condemn be to Damnation then surely harming one of God's angels would."

"I had just reached a big, open area in the middle of the city that had had lush vegetation when some different horseless chariots came up fast and surrounded me. These chariots made loud noises when they moved and had some of those colored lights on top that flashed. Due to the way that they carried themselves as the came out, I knew that these newcomers must be some of God's guardian angels. I tried to tell them that what happened was an accident, but they must not have understood me any better as one of them tried to grab me. As I'd feared, a spark leapt from my body and into the man's outstretched hand, causing him to fall to the ground and writhe in pain even as some of the others dragged him away."

"As the others raised their weapons, I got the idea that while they may not understand my words, they might gather meaning from my actions. Using pantomime and hand gestures, I tried again to tell them that they should try and touch me, as they could very well get hurt like the other man, but if they opened the door of their chariot for me, then I would go with them. They must have gotten the gist of what I was conveying, for they did not try and grab me again, but simply opened the door of the chariot and let me climb inside unaided."

"After what seemed to be a short ride, they let me out at another building. Even though it was much shorter then the ones I'd seen upon my arrival, this one was more imposing due to many of the windows having bars on them like those in our dungeon, and I knew that this must be where I was going to face my Judgment."

"Once we got inside I saw that there were more angels inside. Some were dressed like the ones who brought me here. Some had their hands bound behind them, so I figured that those were other guilty souls awaiting their Judgment. Still others were dressed more like the angels I had encountered earlier, but the feeling I got from them was that they were of an even higher order than the guardian angels behind me. Once they saw me, it appeared that they wanted to bind my hands like the other guilty souls, but after the ones who'd brought me here said something to them, they merely looked at me warily and had me approach the desk. Then they gestured for me to press my fingers into a pad there, which seemed to be soaked in some sort of ink, and roll my soiled hands on a piece of parchment. Afterwards the had me stand in front of a thing that flashed a light, then they took me into a room and had me sit in a char at a table. Different angels would come in, sometimes in pairs, sometimes alone. They would all say things to me in different tongues, sometimes sternly, sometimes angrily. However, I couldn't understand any of them, nor could they understand me it seemed, and in the end they would all leave looking frustrated."

"Finally, a bald man entered my room, and I could tell right away that he was different from the others who came before. For one, he did not walk in, but rather rolled in on a chair with large wheels on either side. Also, while the others who entered looked guarded or mean or had false smiles on their faces, the man who entered then had a kind expression that looked wholly genuine. Finally, when the man spoke, I found that I could understand him."

As Julian fell silent for a second, the crowd was able to hear the conversation between the bald man in Julian's younger self.

"Hello, Julian," the bald man said as the door closed behind him.

"You know my name?" young Julian said in surprise, "You know my language?"

"It's not so much that I know how to speak your language as that you're understanding what I'm saying in mine," the man explained. Then, even though his lips weren't moving, they heard the man say, _And, you'll find that I know everything about you that you yourself know, Prince Julian Hynes of Wistermere._

"I was in shock," Julian said as he resumed his narration, "This was no mere angel like the others, nor was he one of the order of the guardian angels! Surely the one before me was God Himself, come at last to judge me and determine my Punishment! I fell out of my chair and threw myself at his feet, telling him that I had not meant to harm His angels, not had I wanted those sailors to die, and that I certainly did not intend for my brother to lose his life. As I prostrated myself at his feet, begging that he let me see my brother one last time before he cast me into Damnation, he laid his hand gently on my head until I looked up. Then, with tears forming in his own eyes, he spoke to me with the gentlest kindness."

"Please rise, Julian," the bald man said to the young man, "I an not God."

"Are you His gatekeeper, then?" young Julian asked him, "Could you please tell Him what I just told you?"

"I am not an angel, nor is anyone you had met here today," the man patiently explained, "I'm simply a man, just like you."

"Then had I been Judged already?" Julian asked in confusion, "Am I in Damnation, or is this Limbo, or…"

"Julian Hynes," the man gently interrupted, "you are not dead. Even though you have been though a strange and trying ordeal, one that is strange even to me, you had managed to come through it alive. So if you'll take your seat for me, I'll try to explain to you what I can."

"And so he explained to me that he was a headmaster at a school for 'gifted' youngsters," Julian explained to the listening crowd," on the surface, that implied that those who attended were either artistically inclined or of genius-level intellect. In truth, it was both a facility where those who were born with special abilities could safely learn to control their abilities (either to use them to help others or so they could suppress those gifts in order to lead normal lives), as well as a safe haven to protect those youths from the 'normal' people who hated and feared those 'gifted' youths. He told me that he himself was one of those gifted individuals, that he felt that it was his duty to teach, guide and protect those like himself, with the hope that one day all of humanity would be able to accept one another despite their differences."

"He also revealed to me that the reason the world appeared strange to me was because I had somehow used me gift to travel through time," Julian continued, "When I expressed my disbelief at that idea, he revealed that I was not the first like myself to find myself in a time not my own, although I was the first he knew of to have traveled forward rather than back."

"He then offered to let me study at his Institute, implying that if I learned how to control my abilities, then I might learn how it was that I had got here and might even discover a way back home. So entranced was I by the idea he'd presented me with, I almost couldn't say yes fast enough. Even though I'm sure that he saw the real reason in my head for my acceptance, I secretly hoped that by learning how to go back to when I'd lived, I might be able to go back far enough to save my little brother from dying. However, it would be some time before I would learn that particular dream would be impossible, even if I'd found my way back home, and even longer before I could accept it."

"Why couldn't you?" Anna asked him, "If you had the ability to go back…?"

"Because you can't go back and change the events of the past with knowledge from the future," Julian explained, "To do so, even with good intentions in mind, could very well negatively things in ways that you never imagined. For instance, you couldn't go back and kill Han s before he showed up for your sister's coronation. Nor could you otherwise prevent him from showing up that day, even though I'm certain that you'd rather like to. For you see, even though he was a deceitful and manipulative wretch, the fact is that he had saved your sister's life that day, and by extension, yours."

"What do you mean?" Anna asked, feeling confused as she did not remember the events that way.

"When Hans had led the expedition to 'find' you, he had saved your sister from being killed by the Duke's men," Julian explained, "While it may be true that he'd only saved her in order for her to be killed at the right time, the fact remains that she survived that particular attempt on her life thanks to him."

"In addition, it was the revelation of his betrayal and his own attempt on your sister's life that prompted your act of sacrifice to protect her. An act that, ironically , saved your own life from Elsa's accidentally unleased powers which were freezing you solid. Even if Hans hadn't been here to unwittingly provoke the fight that had set that unnatural winter in motion, it's still very likely that something else would have set her off. In which case, I'm sure that you would have still set off after your sister, and would have still been struck by her power. The Duke would have still sent his men after your sister, only Hans would not be there to stop them. Your sister would have died within her own ice palace, and without the 'act of true love' to save you, you would have frozen solid from the ice in your heart, an ice stature standing motionless forever within an uninhabitable arctic wasteland."

"I never thought of those events that way," Elsa admitted.

"Not too many people do, which is why time-travel is, at best hazardous. Even going into the past with completely benign purposes, such as preventing your parents from being lost at sea and making it possible for them to return when they'd planned, can result in disastrous changes," Julian explained, "If one does go back into the past, it's best if they do so in an observational role; to obtain the true version of history & not just the distorted version written by the 'victors'. Of course, since time is not merely a river but actually a sea with river-like currents, it's actually possible to travel in more directions than just forward and back, but more on that later."

"It was with a hopeful heart that I went with this professor to his Institute, and during the next several years I would learn that, not just this world but this entire universe I'd found myself in was more full of wonders than I'd ever imagined; wonders so great that, even though I never totally lost the pain of losing my brother, the awe I felt served to dull the ache ever so slightly. I found that all the teachers at my new school, and even the students, all had their own varied gifts. One young man, for instance, had powers very much like yours, your Highness, and during his years there he'd developed a level of control where he could freeze his own body and yet still be able to move, which increased his strength and durability in combat."

"Are you saying my powers might not be magical?" Elsa asked, then she gestured at Olaf who waved as she continued, "Then how do you explain him?"

"Not sure exactly, it may be that your gift may be, at least in part, of a mystical nature," Julian admitted, "I know that magic does exist, thanks to one Sorcerer Supreme and a young woman who had talents stemming both from the Mystic Artes and her own natural born gifts which she'd inherited from her father, a man whom I'd been I'd been unfortunate enough to fight against more than once. Ironically, it was my through those battles that I'd learned how to use my own gift to manipulate metal, which is how I'd kept my ship from sinking on the way here."

"I'd also encountered there other wondrous people whose gifts were neither magical nor those that they'd been born with. I met a man who, though an experiment that was performed many years ago, had become the ultimate soldier, one who could take down your entire army and several others besides with nothing more than his indestructible shield. I encountered someone who, though his incredible inventive genius, had crafted a suit of armor with unbelievable power and capabilities. I met a scientist, which is a very smart person, who is normally kind and good natured. However, he must take care to not lose his temper, or he'll change into a rampaging behemoth who is capable of completely relocating your castle to the top of the North Mountain with a single punch. I had met people who were so powerful and long lived that, in ages past, they'd been revered and feared as gods. I had even met people from under the sea and beyond the stars."

"Of all the beings that I had encountered during my time there, the one who had made the greatest impact on me, and who had nearly sent me and many others to face our Judgment, was my own beloved mentor. You see, when my mentor and his one-time friend, the man from whom I'd mentioned I'd learned my control over metal, had their last duel, it has set event's into motion that had unleashed my mentor's own dark side. This dark side took form as a monster of unbelievable power whose onslaught seemed to be unstoppable. In the end, it took the sacrifice of the world's greatest heroes, some of which I'd already mentioned, to save my mentor and the world from this beast."

"Of all the lessons I'd learned from my mentor, the one I found of the greatest importance was being brave enough to accept responsibility for your actions," Julian continued, "Even though he had not intended for those things to happen, my mentor turned himself in to atone for the actions taken by the beast that had sprung from his own mind. On that day, I felt that I should also move on. Even though my new-found friends tried to talk me out of it, I knew that I too should return to my own home to atone for my actions there. So I had reclaimed my ship, which my mentor and his students had saved that first day, and followed the reports of ship disappearances to the area known as the Bermuda Triangle. With my cultivated control over my abilities I found that I was easily able to recreate the events of that night, and even was able to remain awake to control 'when' I emerged. However, even though I had arrived at the right time and was able to find the right location, I did not find any trace that my Kingdom had ever then been there. It was then that I'd learned that I had not merely traveled forwards in time that first night, but I had went crossways as well."

" 'Crossways'?" Kristoff asked in confusion.

"Yes," Julian confirmed, "You see, while time is in fact not a river, like many philosophers had likened it to, but a sea; that sea does have river like currents, which itself has infinite branches. While virtually all of us travel down the current at the same rate of speed, which branch we take depends on every decision every one of us takes every single day of our lives. Even a seemingly insignificant death of a seemingly insignificant man can have a profound effect on the path our lives take. However, a person with the power or the means could travel forwards at a greater speed than the others he was originally with, or backwards to see where they had come from. While forwards is generally the safer way to travel, as he or she can return to their home more easily, they must take care to not take anything with them, as such knowledge or item could render the future they came from obsolete."

"Like that outfit you're wearing?" Kristoff quipped with a smile.

Julian looked down at the skin-tight outfit with the X emblazoned over his heart he was wearing and chuckled as said, "You may be right about that, but I didn't have much of a choice there; I'd outgrown my old clothes long ago, you see. Of course, Genie's opinion of my 'fashion sense' pretty much reflected yours."

"Who's Genie?" Elsa asked him.

"Oh, he was funny!" Julian said with a gleam in his eyes, "Genie was…well, a genie; a magical entity who had the power to do just about anything you could possibly imagine!"

"Sounds terrifying!" someone in the crowd commented.

"I suppose that, in the wrong hands, a genie would be terrifying, but this guy wasn't so bad," Julian countered, "You see, Genie wouldn't hurt a fly if he could help it, but genies are slaves to their lamps and to whoever finds them."

"He was a slave?" Elsa asked.

"All genies are," Julian confirmed, "whoever finds and rubs their lamps becomes the genie's master, and the genie has to grant them three wishes. Whatever the master wishes for, the genie has to make it come true."

"Any three wishes at all?" someone else asked.

"With exceptions," Julian answered, "You see, there are three things that a genie cannot do, no matter how much their master may plead or threaten: They cannot kill anyone, they cannot bring anyone back to life, and they cannot make anyone fall in love. Other than that, no matter how reprehensible the genie finds the wish or the master making it, the genie has no choice but to fulfill it."

"How horrible!" Anna said in shock.

"Indeed," Julian confirmed, "And I had seen, on my way to that point in time of that arid country, that Genie has had some truly horrible masters. When I found him in that cave, which was just an ordinary cave filled with treasure at the time, I had wanted to free him from his life of servitude."

"Genies can be freed?" Olaf said in his usual upbeat tone.

"If the master uses one of his three wishes to wish for it, then yes the genie would no longer be bound to his lamp, no longer a slave forced to grant greedy wishes," Julian confirmed, "but I'm sure you can guess how often _that_ has happened. However, as much as I wanted to wish him free, I had seen something else on my way there…"

"You see, when I travel to a place, I can see the past events of that place that led to the 'present' that I'm traveling to. Of course that much information about so many people would be too much for anyone to handle, but I find that if I focus on one person exclusively then it isn't nearly as bad. For that trip I focused on Genie because he seemed the most interesting to me. The future, however, remains a blurry haze to me, possibly because it's always in motion. There are times, however, when I can catch glimpses of a future event, as if the universe is warning me to not interfere with that event. Over time, I've learned to heed that warning."

"On this particular trip, I had seen that one of Genie's future masters would be a kind and noble one, despite his rough backstreet upbringing, and that he would need Genie's assistance and would become his best friend. Most importantly, I had seen that he would use his final wish to free Genie from his eternal enslavement. So I decided to trust in what I'd seen, but I felt certain measures ought to be taken to ensure that Genie had seen he last cruel master."

"For my first wish, which I felt was entirely necessary, I wished to have the knowledge to be able to do everything that I could do with my powers, including the secret to navigating the seas of time. You see, if you travel backwards in time and don't keep track of where you were, or you leave the time-stream and travel from one branch to a parallel one, like I had done that first night, then you could get lost and never be able to return to the place you call home. While I had learned much at the Institute, there wasn't anyone who could teach me how I had managed to get there in the first place, and my experience in that regard was rudimentary at best. I figured that if I had better control over that particular aspect of my powers, then my chances of getting back home would improve, and I would be able to help more people on the way."

"My second and third wishes I used entirely for the Genie's sake," Julian continued to an enrapt audience, "As for what my second wish was; I wished that the Cave would come to life and serve as the guardian of the lamp and its genie, that it would remain hidden until such time that the mystical scarab led a potential master there, and would only allow admittance to the master I'd seen in my glimpse of the future, the 'diamond in the rough'. Of course I hadn't counted on the zeal which the newly dubbed Cave of Wonders would carry out its duties, but at least it hadn't been lax and simply let in anyone who even vaguely matched that description."

"My third wish was the hardest to make, as I had grown rather fond of the genie in the short time I'd known him and would like to have been remembered as a friend, but I felt that it was necessary for that future to come to pass: I wished that, when Genie returned to his lamp after that final wish, that he would remember nothing of our encounter and would simply wait until his next master rubbed the lamp."

"You wished that he would forget you?" Elsa asked in astonishment, "But why?"

"If he had remembered me and the talks we had," Julian explained, then he might not have been so quick to trust his new master, who was a thief by necessity. Or worse, he might have been too quick to trust him, expecting certain things to happen and even trying to help make them happen, and his efforts might have led to a different and darker outcome. I had shared too much with him, you see, and it's not good to know too much about your own future. So he had to forget it all, to forget me, if his shining future was ever to come true."

"And so, with my efforts completed, I left Genie and his lamp in the cave, taking only a short trip forwards to make sure I had done right by my friend," Julian continued, "This time, watching from the shadows, I saw as the Grand Vizier, in disguise as an old man, led the young thief to retrieve the lamp from the cave, only to double-cross him before he could exit it. I saw as he, with Genie's help, set off to win the heart of the princess that he had met and fell in love with mere moments ago, unaware that he had already managed to do so back then by simply being himself. I saw as he had finally succeeded in his quest, and even managed to out the evil Vizier as a traitor to the Sultan, only to have Genie's lamp fall into the hands of the Vizier, making him unspeakably powerful. Finally, I saw as the young thief became a hero to the Kingdom and defeated the Vizier, not though magic or wishes or strength of arm, but through the bravery and cunning that he'd had all along! Best of all, the young man kept the promise he'd made to Genie and used his last wish to set him free!"

"That's a nice story," Elsa said as she wiped a tear from the corner of her eye, moved by the touching story.

"It was in that moment that I found my new purpose in life," Julian stated, "Far too often stories like that are lost between the pages of history, or end up becoming so distorted that they end up becoming a mere fairy tale. While I would continue on my quest to return home, in the meantime I would take it upon myself to collect these stories of brave and noble heroes and heroines, so as they would never be lost, and would even help out myself when called upon. Most of the time I merely observed unobtrusively, like when a young woman discovered a prince who'd been transformed into a frog and, in the process of trying to help him, discovered that love is the most important thing to have in one's life. Or when a dog, who'd been falsely led to believe that he's had great powers all his life, discovers that he doesn't need to be super to be a hero to his beloved master."

"Then there was times when I lent a hand without letting myself be known, like when an evil queen, who had just poisoned a beautiful young princess out of jealousy, tries to use a boulder to crush the seven dwarves who were coming to avenge her, but a bolt of lightning causes the boulder to roll the other way instead and crushes her. Or when a young man, who also happened to be a thief, discovers in his flight with his stolen goods a secret passage that led to a hidden tower, where a young woman who'd been 'sheltered' there all her life set him back on the right path with her frying pan."

"A frying pan?" Kristoff chuckled.

"Yeah," Julian chuckled along with him, "for such a timid thing she sure was feisty. On the rare occasion, when I felt it absolutely necessary, I would make my presence known and actively try to help, such as when a young female warrior from an eastern kingdom was facing yet another invasion of her country."

"I had seen so many things in my travels, made so many friends, and had a hand in changing so many lives that even if I fail in my quest to return home, I can say with confidence that I had not lived in vain," Julian said as the window went dark, "And that brings us up to today. As I mentioned earlier, when I discovered your existence, during my trip to the kingdom of the thief and the frying pan princess no less, I tried to come here instead to help you, but the time-stream was far too turbulent to let me, and you didn't need my help anyway. Still, there are a couple of things that I'd like to do for you, if you'd let me your Highness."

"Like what?" Elsa asked, her curiosity peaked after everything that she'd just seen.

"Well, I know that you have been haunted by the fact that there had never been any evidence found of what had happened to your parents; only reports that they had went out to sea, supposedly never arrived at their destination, and the search parties never found any sign of them; and I'm sure that there are a number of people here who feel the same way. Well, I told you that one legitimate use for time-travel was to uncover what really happened in the past, and that's something that I can do for you. Using the window through which we'd just seen my own life, I can show you what had really happened to your parents, if you'd like."

One part of Elsa did not want to see what Julian had to show her, wanted to cling onto the one remaining hope that her parents could return one day, and she knew that if she saw what happened then that last hope would be washed away. As she opened her mouth to speak, however, what came out was, "Yes. Show me, please."

Nodding at Elsa, Julian turned towards the rest of the crowd and addressed them, asking, "Is there anyone here who does not want to watch? I'm sure that nobody present will blame you for not wanting to revisit that moment."

Nobody said anything except Kristoff, who had Anna clinging to his side for comfort as he said simply, "Show us."

As he nodded in acknowledgment, Julian waved at the window, which lit up once again to show Anna and Elsa as they each said their separate goodbyes to their parents as they departed the palace. They saw as the king and queen boarded the ship just before it sailed through the fjord into the open sea. When the ship ran into a storm, they heard the captain order the royals below decks while his crew fought with the rigging, trying to guide the ship past the worst of the tempest. They witnessed as the crew's control over the ship disintegrated when lightning took out the aft mast. Finally everyone made a shocked gasping sound when the captain was unable to avoid a giant wave as it washed over the ship's starboard side. When it had settled, the only sign that the ship was ever there was a trio of masts, the latter two having been snapped off when she ship capsized, before they too sank beneath the waves.

As Elsa looked around, there was not a single dry eye around her. The children were sobbing openly, and even the grown men all had wet faces. As Elsa tried to comfort one sobbing child, despite the fact that her own heart was breaking, she chastised herself for not telling this gentleman no. Now the Winter Festival was all but ruined; who could possibly think of having fun now, after having witness their beloved former king and queen die right before their eyes? While she stroked the crying girl's hair, she looked up and asked, in a hoarse tone that sounded nothing her own voice, "Is that it? Is it over?"

Julian cleared his throat uncomfortably as he said, "Um, yes. It would appear that your parents' ship and everyone on board were lost in the storm. Now I just need to see one last thing for myself. Depending on what I find, there may be one more thing that I can do for you."

One more thing!? This man had already taken a happy occasion and severely dampened their spirits like a cold, wet blanket of snow! What more could he possibly do!? Before Elsa could tell him off, Julian had taken his window and reduced the size of it, so only he had a clear view of it then. From what little Elsa could see from her position, however, it appeared as if he was looking at the area from a greater distance and with everything moving much faster than normal. As she handed the girl over to her parents, she walked over to where Julian was standing in order to get a better look, trying to control the edge in her voice as she asked, "What are you doing now?"

"Observing the patterns of the search parties that went looking for your parent's ship, as well as watching the traffic of any other boats that were in the area. It appears that the storm had blown your parents way off course. See?" Julian said as he pointed at a spot in the image some distance from where the heaviest traffic was, "The search parties never got closer than 6 miles to where your parent's ship went down, and it looks as though not fishing boats had passed through there either, much less dropped their nets there. As for what relatively few ships actually had passed through, it looks as though none of them had seen or recovered anything that might be from the ship."

"I could have told you that," Elsa responded, recalling that her sister had said that they hadn't had anything to bury for the funeral except a pair of empty coffins, "What does that matter anyway?"

"Well, if anything had been found that could be identified as having been from your parents ship, then that would have served as evidence that their ship went down," Julian explained, "With that serving as a sort of witness, it would be much more difficult, maybe even impossible, to do what I'm getting ready to do now."

Her patience nearing the breaking point, Elsa asked, "And that would be?"

Expanding the window back to the size he had it before, Julian answered, "Bringing your parents home."

The sounds of crying died down and a shocked silence took its place. Anna was the one who broke the silence as she breathed, "Are you serious?"

Elsa, not wanting to let herself believe, skeptically said, "But earlier you had said…"

"…that I could not go back to help them make it to their destination on schedule or even to have them turn around and return home," Julian finished for her, "That's true, and I'm not taking it back. The difference, historically speaking, between someone who's dead and someone who's alive….well, I'm pretty sure that I've already indicated how huge that was. However, the difference between someone who's dead and someone who nobody had ever seen alive again, that is much harder to define, and that's the basis for what I'm about to do. You see, I'm not going back there; I'm going to bring them here."

"I don't understand," Elsa admitted as her heart beat an uneven pattern.

While he brought up a still image which Elsa recognized as her parent's ship mere moments before the sea claimed it, Julian explained, "I'm not making it so that they get back home 3 years ago; rather, I'm opening a doorway to bring them home today, now."

Then, without another word, Julian traced a glowing rectangular pattern on the window before him, which appeared to Elsa as if it imprinted itself on the water on the boat's port side. Then, with a loud crack that left Elsa's ears ringing, Julian unleashed a huge blast of power that struck the fjord just outside the gate that extended out from the castle's walls, and the same rectangular pattern began glowing there. Then Julian resumed the playback, and Elsa's focus on the window was so intense she could have sworn that she could hear the voices of the sailors on the ship, even over the roar of the storm.

* * *

_Three years ago…_

"It's no good, Captain!" A sailor yelled over the howling wind, "We can't hold it! I'm afraid that this may be it for us!"

"Hang tough, lads!" the captain hollered back even as he himself struggled with the ship's wheel, "This old girl has sailed these waters for far too long to let the loss of a single mast get the better of her! We've gotten through plenty of worse storms before, we're not letting the sea claim the King and Queen now!"

"Captain!" another sailor hollered as he pointed to something off the ship's port side.

Letting his First Mate take his place at the wheel, the captain hurried over to the port side to see, then his eyes bulged in disbelief. The waters off the port side were so bright and warm, the seemed to light up even the gloom of this terrible storm.

Softly, almost to himself, the captain breathed, "What in the name of…?"

"LOOK OUT!" one of his men yelled behind him.

Whirling around, the captain's heart stuttered as he saw a gigantic wave looming tall off the ship's starboard side. For half a second, the captain chastised himself for leaving the wheel for even half a second, then he stopped as he understood that, even if he had remained there, there would be no outmaneuvering this.

"BRACE YOURSELVES!" the captain yelled just as the wave hit, tipping all of them towards the glowing waters, which he imagined must be lit up by the light coming from the Gates of Heaven itself.

* * *

Back at Arendelle, Elsa and the others watched as the events within the window proceeded just as they had before, with the only differences being the glowing box on the water that the ship had capsized into, and when the wave settled both the ship and the glow was gone, leaving only a single mast floating there to be swallowed moments later. Everyone was so focused on the image that more than a few people jumped, Elsa included, at the sound of a loud splash from the direction of the fjord. Elsa looked up just in time to see a ship, in fact the very ship they were looking at an image of just seconds ago, roll up out of the spot Julian had tagged with his power. As its residual momentum it had from the storm's winds carried the ship hast the gate into the port proper, Elsa saw the sailors leverage themselves into upright positions, looking dazed and confused, waterlogged and very cold, but otherwise alright. As the door to the quarters below-decks opened, Elsa put her hand to her mouth and her heart leapt into her throat as her parents emerged, also looking rather dazed and confused, but very much alive!

Her mind frozen in a moment of indecision, Elsa looked back at Julian, who offered her a small smile as he said, "It's okay. Go on."

Elsa needed no more encouragement than that as she raced down the pier towards the ship drifting slowly towards them, with Anna and Kristoff only a few steps behind her. As she reached the end of the pier, Elsa didn't slow down. Instead, she extended her hands before her and started creating a snow bridge that connected to it, with said bridge turning to ice the instant her foot touched it. It was a work of art, as much as the steps she'd created to her ice palace mere months ago, or even the ice palace itself. Elsa, however spared no attention to admire it, nor to even note the shocked expressions of the sailors as their Liege's daughters impossibly raced towards them across the water. Elsa's focus was entirely on her mother and father, and she had no time to note their own shocked expressions as, in no time at all, her bridge made contact with the stern of the ship, which arrested its remaining momentum. Less than a second later Elsa was leaping off the end and racing past the sailors to throw her arms around both her parents, where she began laughing and weeping hysterically.

"Elsa?" the King asked in confusion, "How…where…what is going…?"

Before he could decide what he wanted to ask or even how to ask it, the King is interrupted by the arrival of Anna, who also throws her arms around them and begins laughing and crying. Only Kristoff, who had been with them up till they reached the ship, stayed behind at the stern, preferring to let the sisters alone during their touching reunion. The King and Queen, as confused by their daughters' reactions as much as by everything that's happened to them, simply hug them until their crying mellows down to simple tears.

"My dears," the Queen said as she stroked her daughters' hair comfortingly, "Whatever is the matter?"

"It's just…we missed you both so much!" Elsa said as she looked at them both with a watery smile."

"Exactly!" Anna added with a hiccup.

"But we'd only left this morning," the King said, then when he realized that it was light out now he amended, "or maybe it was yesterday. I don't understand. How did we get back here? What happened to the streak in your hair, Anna? What's with all this snow? Just what is going on here?"

"I can assure you that the snow is all natural, and not the product of your daughter's power," Julian said as he floated in close to the ship. The King and Queen, not recognizing the strange newcomer, clutch their daughters protectively and take a step back as the sailors aggressively take defensive positions between them. However, Julian simply ignored the shivering seamen and landed on the deck, leaning on the starboard railing as he continued, "The truth is, your Majesties, that you've been away for far longer than you realize, and during that time your daughter has made great strides towards mastering her power. In fact, I don't think that you will ever have to worry about your daughter losing control ever again."

"What do you mean we've been away for 'longer than we realize'?" the Queen asked.

"Mom, you guys have been gone for over three years," Anna said sympathetically.

"Three years?" the King said in stunned disbelief, "But that's impossible!"

"It's true, Dad," Elsa confirmed, "When you didn't get to where you were going as scheduled, search parties were sent out to look for you. When they could not find any trace of you or your ship, you were declared 'lost at sea' and we held funeral proceedings for you and everyone on board. I was just crowned Queen of Arendelle a few months ago. Julian here was the one who saved you from the storm and brought you back home."

"I don't understand," the King admitted, "How is this possible?"

"I'll be happy to summarize it for you, but I think that we should do so while we get this ship docked," Julian offered, then he gestured at the sailors as he continued, "Your men are still sopping wet from the storm, your Majesty, and I'd hate for them to perish from pneumonia while we were blathering away here."

The King saw the shade of blue the sailors' faces were turning even as they tried to look tough for their Liege, then he nodded as he said, "You're right, of course, but we don't seem to have any wind, and I don't think that the men are in any shape to row us in."

"Not to worry, your Majesty, we can take care of that," Julian assured him, then he turned to Elsa and said, "Your Highness, if you can dissolve your ice bridge and get it out of the way, then I will handle the ship."

As Julian used his powers to magnetically maneuver the ship into the port, he told the others on their ship the abbreviated version of what had happened to them and how it was that he'd brought them back home.

"I'm not sure I understood everything that you've just told me," the King admitted, "But it sounds like we owe you our lives. You have our eternal gratitude."

"I was glad to do it," Julian responded, "and I'll be happy to explain in as much detail as you need me to once you've had a chance to rest properly, and I'll even catch you up on what's happened with your daughters while you were away, but there's something more important that we should discuss first. Your people who are here now, as well as those who are over by the docks, all know the truth of what has happened to you. But as far as your allies and other contacts go, it would be best if you downplay my involvement here to nonexistence. As far as any of them should know, you simply got lost in the storm and only were able to manage getting home just now, and it'd be best if you get your people to understand that version of the story as well."

"But why?" the King asked, "If the others knew of your noble actions, I'm sure that they would reward you handsomely."

"I did not do this for a reward, but as one," Julian said as he politely declined, "and I don't think that I'd be here long enough to accept anyways. Just trust me on this, your Majesty, I believe that it would be best for you and your kingdom if you did as I suggested."

The king sighed as he said, "Very well young man, if you insist." Then, as the ship was moored securely to the dock, Elsa and Anna disembarked from the ship ahead of the ship as they fended of the now larger group of well-wishers, most of whom had come to see the unbelievable miracle for themselves, as the King prepared to address them all.

* * *

Later that evening, in the providence of Weselton, the Duke is looking out his window and frowning sadly as he sees yet another family packing up their belongings in preparation to move. As he turns away, the duke wonders to himself how things could have come to this.

When he had went to attend the coronation of the new Queen of Arendelle, all he'd wanted was to find out about their closest trade partner so that he may be able to strengthen the relations between them. Then, due to a simple misunderstanding, the Queen went and went and cut off all trade relations with them.

Even worse, many of his other trade partners took their cue from Arendelle and ended their trade agreement with him as well, many of whom having done so saying they wanted "nothing to do with Weasel-Town." Now the area under his regency is on the verge of economic collapse. How is that just?

Surely, the circumstances being what they were, the queen ought to understand just why it was he'd sent his men to kill her; her power was killing them all, and she hadn't exactly stuck around to explain that it was merely an accident. Then, when Prince Hans went and told them that she had killed her own sister Anna, that only served to confirm that she was an evil enchantress. While it's true that he'd sent his men after her before the Prince told them that lie, surely if their positions had been reversed then the Queen would have done the same! If only he could find a way to contact her, to convince her to end the trade embargo so that his people's livelihoods could be restored, then he would do anything to make it up to her.

As he was deep in contemplation, the Duke heard a knock on his chamber door as one of his only remaining maids called out, "Your Lordship? Nicholas Furore is here to see you."

Of course, the man he'd sent to spy….that is, to gather information for him from Arendelle. "Of course, Midna," the Duke called back, "Send him in."

As the man who had a scar crossing one eyebrow entered the room and closed the door behind him, the Duke asked him, "So, what have you to report?"

"My Lordship," Nicholas greeted him with a bow, "there are strange things happening over in Arendelle lately."

"Could you be a little more specific?" the Duke asked in irritation, "The land is ruled by a witch who can control the ice and snow: strange things are bound to happen!"

"What I refer to has nothing to do with her powers," Nicholas said, "The former King and Queen have returned."

"What?" the Duke said in shocked surprise, "But that's impossible! They're dead! Lost at sea years ago!"

"I don't understand it either, my Lord. I only know what I saw," Nicholas reported, "Everyone had followed Queen Elsa when she had left the Winter Festival abruptly to follow her guard to the dock. When I had arrived, I found the wreckage of a ship there that I'm certain wasn't there before. I wasn't able to hear what was going on as there were no vantage points close enough for me to both see and hear without being spotted. After a while, lightning struck the water where the fjord met the sea, and the King and Queen's ship rose out of it."

"Just….rose out of it?" The duke said in a wavering voice.

"Yes, my Lord," Nicholas confirmed, "Other than having one mast missing, the ship was completely intact. When the Queen raced out to the ship, I felt that was the best chance I had to make it out to mine to report, while everyone was distracted."

"That's okay, you did good," the Duke said as he pondered the troubling new information. When he'd assigned Nicholas to remain in Arendelle and gather information covertly, he'd hoped to find some common grounds upon which he might be able to re-open negotiations between them, but this…

"Necromancy!" The Duke muttered to himself, "That's the only reasonable answer!"

"My lord?" Nicholas said in confusion, but the Duke held his finger up, signaling him to wait for a moment while he continued to put the pieces together. The ice magic the Queen had exhibited might have been innocent enough, and he believed that he could have overlooked that given another chance, but Necromancy is the darkest of dark arts, requiring the foulest of sacrifices! That shipwreck his man saw must have had people on it once, likely sacrificed in a dark ritual in order to bring her parents back! That makes her the foulest of monsters! As for Princess Anna, while she might not have any power of her own, there was little doubt in his mind that she must have been an accomplice to that atrocity. Then the matter of the former King and Queen, if they were raised by dark forces, then neither their word nor their decisions could be trusted.

"There's little choice then," the Duke said in a decisive tone, "It is clear that Queen Elsa is beyond all hope of redemption!" Turning back towards Nicholas, the Duke ordered, "Send word to all our closest neighbors and to anyone who might still hold any ties of allegiance with us! Tell them to bring as many armed men as they possibly can! We will sail for Arendelle at first light!"

"My Lord? What do you plan to do?" Nicholas asked in a shocked tone.

"What I should have done months ago! I will free Arendelle from the icy cold grip of that tyrant Elsa! I will destroy that dark enchantress once and for all!"

Nicholas looked like he wanted to protest, but after seeing the look in his lord's eyes he merely bowed and left. As the Duke turned back towards the window, he said in a meaningful tone, "I regret that it has come to this, but you will thank me for this one day, Arendelle!"


	4. 4) Friends and Foes

**Friends and Foes**

After the King made his announcement to the crowd, Elsa and Anna led their parents (and most of the crowd, who showed no signs of dispersing) to the Winter Festival where Elsa showed them the statue she'd made in their honor, then to the site where their graves were set up. Finally, she led them to the North Mountain, where her ice remained virtually untouched due to the constant cold conditions up there. As her parents and the few hanger-ons from the crowd (the rest having decided against braving the treacherous conditions and instead returned to the Festival) looked around the magnificent structure, Elsa thought that she'd seen the same wonder and amazement in their eyes that she'd seen in Anna's that fateful day she'd chased her up here to bring her home.

"You made this?" the King breathed as he looked around wide eyed.

"Yes," Elsa confirmed, curious about her parents' opinion and wary of their possible disapproval.

"It's beautiful, darling!" her mother said as she gave Elsa a one-armed hug, refusing to release Anna from the embrace of her other arm, "It almost makes our castle by the fjord look like a hovel!"

"Th-thank you," Elsa stammered as she blushed at the unexpected praise.

"I told you that your daughter had grown talented," Julian added, who had been quiet throughout their tour.

"So exactly what's your part in this?" the King asked, "I understand that you saved us, and we're rather grateful for that. I was just wondering…why? What is it that brings you here?"

"Your daughter: When I found out about her, how she was like me, I wanted to come here earlier to help her master her powers. I'd hoped that that would help her avoid having her life taking the same tragic path mine had. Alas, that was not to be, and it turned out that she didn't need my help anyway. Still, I felt that with what she had to go through, what she had to overcome, if anybody deserves a happy ending it's her."

As he walked off a ways, apparently to examine the stairway, the king asked his daughters, "What did he mean by the 'tragic turn' of his life? Just how bad are we talking about here?"

"Pretty bad," Elsa confirmed, "You know what you were afraid of when guys were taking me and Anna to the trolls?" Elsa finished by pointing at Julian.

The Queen put her hands over he mouth in shock as she breathed, "You mean…?"

"Yes," Anna answered, "What had nearly happened to me, that's pretty much what happened to Julian's own younger brother."

As her family turned their gazes back towards Julian, Elsa was sure that his gifts certainly would have made it possible for him to hear their quiet conversation, even from as far away as he was currently. However, if he had heard them talking about him, he gave no clear indication as he continued to examine the palace's construction.

Once they got back to town, Julian had wanted to use his gift to refashion the wreckage he'd arrived in into a shelter for the night, but Elsa wouldn't hear of it. She insisted that since he'd brought back her parents, then the least she could do was to put him up for the night in one of their guest rooms, a notion seconded by her sister and parents. She finally got him to accept when she compromised by saying it would be one of the more modest rooms and agreeing when he insisted that it be one of the still-unused servants' quarters.

The next morning, after Julian and Kristoff had finished sharing breakfast with Elsa and the rest of them, Julian announced that he felt that her parents were settled enough now for him to show them what had happened with their daughters while they were away, if they still wished. When they agreed, Julian proceeded to open one of the window shutters, then blocked off the cold sea air coming in with a window of his own. As Elsa's parents watched in shock and wonder, for they had not yet witnessed this particular application of Julian's gift, Julian began by showing them the moment she and Anna had their accident the night they were playing together in the Ballroom, insisting the it was necessary in order to put it all into perspective. Elsa supposed that what he was saying was correct, for Anna's memories of that time had been altered by the events to follow.

Though he didn't show every second of their lives, the moments that Julian showed in his window were still very powerful. Together, they relived the moment when Grandpabby of the trolls removed the magic and the memories of magic from Anna's head, then proceeded to warn her that fear would be her enemy if she failed to control her power. They saw as Anna's loneliness, and Elsa's fear, grew as Anna tried and failed again and again over the years to get her sister to come out of her room. Then they witnessed as Anna and Elsa said their separate goodbyes to their parents, hugging their children close to them as they saw the moment they were grieving together when their parents failed to come home, even though they were still separate due to Elsa still refusing to leave her room in fear of harming someone with her powers.

Julian then skipped forward to the day of Elsa's coronation, where they witnessed Anna's joy and Elsa's unease as the gates were opened again for the first time in years. Elsa's parents chuckled good naturedly at Anna's awkward first meeting with Prince Hans, with Anna and Elsa chuckling ironically when their mother commented that he seemed like a nice boy.

They saw as Elsa barely managed to avoid losing control over her powers during the coronation ceremony , then as she utterly failed as she confronted her sister over Anna's sudden acceptance of Hans's marriage proposal during the ball that evening. They hugged Elsa in comfort as they witnessed her fleeing the reactions of everyone who witnessed her display, in the process unwittingly plunging the land into an unnatural winter. They watched in equal parts awe and sadness as Elsa built her palace in the North Mountain, finally being true to herself but believing that she had to be eternally alone.

They saw as Anna hired Kristoff to help her and held their breath as they narrowly escaped the jaws of the wolves. Elsa's parents witnessed as Anna and Kristoff met Olaf the snowman for the first time and even shared a guilty chuckle at Olaf's innocent wish to experience summer for himself.

Finally, they got to the point where Anna and Kristoff had reached Elsa's ice palace, and both Anna and Elsa felt their parent's shock when Anna's revelation of the fate of Arendelle caused a wave of panic within Elsa, resulting in an uncontrolled outburst of power that struck Anna's heart.

Elsa caught her mother looking for the streak that was no longer in Anna's hair but had grown noticeably larger in the image where Grandpabby of the trolls revealed that removing the Ice from Anna's heart was beyond his power, that only an act of true love could save her. Elsa felt her father's heart racing as Anna and Kristoff raced back down the mountain to get her back to her "true love" Hans in time, both of whom were unaware at the time that he'd just returned to the castle with Elsa in chains after having foiled the Duke's men's attempt on her life.

As great as the shock she'd felt from them earlier, the next shock she felt from her parents was even greater, and even Elsa herself had to admit that she felt shocked as she witnessed for the first time the moment where Prince Hans revealed his true nature when Anna thought he was going to save her. Elsa could have sworn that she heard her father's knuckles tightening and felt an urge to echo his response as Hans told Anna that he never really loved her, that he had only been after the throne, and that he planned to have Elsa executed as a murdering traitor even as he left Anna to slowly freeze to death.

Then they got to the part where Anna was trying desperately to reach Kristoff through the blizzard, having realized that he was the one who loved her all along and now stood as her only hope of salvation, even as Hans pursued Elsa, who'd escaped from the castle's dungeons and was now fleeing from Arendelle, hoping that her absence will save it. Elsa tangibly felt her parent's despair as Anna, who had only been a matter of yards away from Kristoff and salvation, chose instead to race towards Elsa, who had herself collapsed from despair from hearing Hans' revelation of Anna's "fate" and now laid helpless before his bared blade.

When Anna threw herself in Hans' path and froze solid in time to shield Elsa from his killing blow, Elsa saw her mother hug Anna even tighter to her, as if reassuring herself that Anna really was alive in her arms, and Elsa herself felt an echo of the pain that she felt back then when she found out a second later. Then, when Anna thawed moments later, they all felt the awe she herself felt when Olaf had revealed that it was Anna's act of love, her sacrificing herself to save her beloved sister, that had saved Anna from the ice in her heart, and Elsa had realized that was the key to controlling her powers all along: loving everyone and accepting her powers, rather than trying to keep them concealed because she was afraid of their reaction, of hurting them.

Finally, Julian ended his presentation on a happy note. Elsa saw her father pat Anna on the shoulder when she had punched Hans overboard, and heard him chuckle as Hans was deported back to his country while Kai announced to the Duke that Elsa was cutting off all trade agreements with "Weasel Town". She saw her mother draw Kristoff into her embrace as they witnessed Anna presented him with his new sled, along with announcing that Elsa had named him Arendelle's official Ice Master and Deliverer, and they became an official couple. Lastly, they all felt a special glow as Elsa deliberately used her powers in public for the first time, turning the castle courtyard into an oasis of winter for everybody to enjoy.

As Julian closed his window and turned to close the window of the castle, the King reached out and drew her and Anna into his tight embrace as he urgently breathed, "Oh my dears! I am so, so sorry! I had failed you, both as a King and as a father! Can you ever forgive me?"

"What are you talking about!?" Elsa said as she pulled back to took at her father in shock, "It's not your fault you and mother were caught in that storm!"

"No, but it is  
our fault that you had grown up the way that you did, and thus the way that things turned out," the King countered, "When we took you two to the trolls, we had heard what their elder told you. We should have understood that he had been referring to your own fear being your enemy, not the fear of others. We should have listened when he said that you needed to learn how to control you power. If we hadn't worked so hard to keep you isolated from others, put so much stress on you keeping your power hidden, then none of that would have happened to you. I'm so sorry!"

"But father, I was there too," Elsa argued, "I had heard what he'd said, same as you, and I took away the same meaning from his warning. Trust me, there's nothing to forgive!"

As Elsa hugged her father, she saw over his shoulder as a strange look she couldn't identify crossed Julian's face. Feeling rather defensive, Elsa asked him in a frosty tone, "You disapprove?"

"It's not that," Julian said, "It's just that…okay, on one level, I do agree with your parents." When he saw Elsa's shoulders stiffen as she prepared for her rebuttal, Julian put both of his hands up as he continued, "I know that you were there with your parents, but the fact is that you were just a child at the time, one that had been through an extremely terrifying and traumatic experience for you. You couldn't have been expected what Grandpabby had been telling you. And while the event hadn't been any less scary or traumatic for your parents, the fact remains that they were the adults there. Once the crisis had passed and your sister was out of danger, they should have had their wits about them enough to understand what he told you, and brought you up in a way so that you would not have had to worry about losing control over your abilities a second time, much less had it happen."

"But that wasn't exactly what I had been thinking about," Julian added as Elsa took a breath to argue, "It was more like….in spite of the mistakes they made, even though the lessons they had left you with when they had gone had nearly led you down a path in which you would have been left all alone in this world….despite all of that, you forgave your parents so easily. I was just wondering: Is that what being a family is all about? Being able to forgive your mistakes, no matter how serious they may be?"

"If it was an honest mistake, and you're sincere about being sorry about it, then yes, it is," the King confirmed.

As he turned and looked out the window, Elsa thought she saw tears forming in his eyes as he looked out the window as he asked them, "Do you think that my parents could forgive me, the mistakes I made?"

"I'm sure that they would," the Queen assured him, "from what our daughters implied, I'm sure that what happened to your brother was an accident. It'll be hard, but I'm sure that your parents will understand that and forgive you."

"I sure hope so," Julian said with a sigh, doing his best to smile, "It would be nice to see them one last time, to hear them say they forgive me, before my punishment is carried out."

"What do you mean 'one last time'? What punishment are we talking about here?" Kristoff asked in concern.

"I killed my brother," Julian answered simply, "I took the life of a prince of Wistermere. For that crime, there is only one punishment: my life must be taken in exchange for his."

"What?" Elsa asked, her shock making her forget her earlier irritation with him, "But it was an accident! You had shown us that it was an accident!"

"It doesn't matter," Julian countered, "The law is rather strict in these matters, and it doesn't make allowances for 'accidents' or for my being a prince of Wistermere myself."

"What about your parents?" the King asked him in concern, "They're the King and Queen, right? Surely they'd be able to do something?"

"Maybe," Julian said uncertainly, then with a small smile he continued, "They might at least try. Thinking back to that day, when they tried to downplay my role in Miles' death, they may have been trying to spare me the consequences of my actions. And I was still rather young when I'd left home, so there may be special circumstances where the Crown may grant someone a Royal Pardon, or perhaps reduce the level of punishment someone may receive. Of course, my guilt of my crime is compounded by the fact that I had run away, so what options my parents have may be extremely limited, if they even had any options in the first place."

"But…!" Elsa tried to argue.

"It's all right," Julian assured her, "I had accepted that such might me my fate long ago. Maybe I had even that horrific night, 'though I was too young then to think about making some public announcement or anything. Of course, all of this discussion of my punishment is a rather moot point if I'm not ever able to find my way back home. That doesn't mean I won't keep trying, though. I'd rather live only an hour or two more just to see my parent's faces one more time, rather than spend the next 50 or 100 years living in a self-imposed exile, not knowing what fate had happened to my parents or my homeland. No matter what fate has in store for me, I'm through running away."

Elsa couldn't believe what she was hearing. Julian was talking about accepting his own death for a senseless accident as casually as someone might discuss the weather. She still didn't know whether felt sympathy for his similar circumstances, gratitude for his saving her parents from their fate at sea, a combination of both, or something more than all of that. What she did know was that she simply couldn't have him return home simply to die.

Before she could think of what to say to persuade him, or even what it was she wanted to persuade him to do, a harried guard rushed into the room and panted frantically, "Your majesties! Out in the sea….approaching the fjord….at least a dozen ships! Judging by their speed….and formation of approach….they're not friendly!"

Everyone glances at one another in concern for a second before following the guard outside the castle. As they reach the pier, the captain of the guard hands his spyglass to the King. As he looks through it, the King announces, "The others are still too far out for me to make out where they're from, but the lead ship appears to be flying the colors of Weselton."

"Weselton?" Elsa exclaimed, "Don't tell me that they're so upset over my cutting off our trade agreement that they would lead an army to attack us!?"

"I don't think so," Julian said as he had his hand extended and his eyes closed, "I'm sensing some anger out there, true, but also a great deal of fear. Much more fear than anything that would have been created by your trade embargo."

"Don't tell me you have the ability to read their minds?" The Queen asked in surprise.

"Not from this distance, no," Julian responded, "That would require actual physical contact, and even that could be rather difficult, much like translating the written text of a foreign language you've never seen before. However, I can use the conductivity of the salty sea air to read their emotional state."

"But what could they be that afraid of?" Anna asked, "Don't tell me that they still think Elsa's a threat?"

"I don't know, but I'll find out," Julian answered her, then he asked the King, "You said that the lead ship's from Weselton?" When the King nodded yes, Julian opened a small window which displayed images that moved too fast for Elsa to be able to make anything out. Three seconds later, Julian's eyes widened in horror as he breathed, "Oh no! It's all my fault!"

"What do you mean?" Elsa asked him, "What is your fault?"

"Yesterday, when I saved your parents from that storm, there was a spy from Weselton observing from a distance. When he reported what he'd seen, the Duke came to the conclusion that you'd brought them back using necromancy!" Julian answered her.

"Necromancy?" Kristoff asked in confusion.

"A magic used to reanimate the dead," Julian explained, "Because it usually involves human sacrifice, only the most evil of witches and warlocks practice the use of that darkest of arts. Because he believes that Elsa is guilty of it, the Duke intends to liberate this kingdom from her by taking her head."

"Not on my watch, he's not!" the king growled, then he turned to the captain of the guard and ordered, "Have the citizens take refuge in their homes and in the castle, then prepare your men for battle! If it's war they want, it's war they'll get!"

"Yes sir!" The captain acknowledged with a salute.

"Wait!" Julian cried out before the captain could take more than a step, then to the King he said, "Please, your Majesty, the men out there are just misguided and confused, perhaps the Duke most of all. I know that you feel a duty to protect your family and your people, but bloodshed would only escalate the violence and drive you further apart."

"And what would you suggest?" the King asked.

"It's my fault that the Duke believes that your daughter is a dark enchantress, so I will go out there and see if I can't get him to listen to reason, make him understand what had really happened," Julian offered, "I'll turn myself in for questioning if that'll do any good."

"Then I'll go along with you," the King announced.

"No, father! I'll go!" Elsa argued, "You're the rightful King, the people need you here!"

"Elsa, no! It's too dangerous!" her father argued, "Those people are coming to kill you!"

"Even more so with you!" Elsa argued back, "I'm quite capable of defending myself!"

Julian said in a decisive tone, "Your Majesty, your daughter is right. While it would have been safest if I went alone, a representative of the kingdom should be present during the talks. Of those, your daughter is the best equipped to handle herself should things go south. You should remain here, make sure that the people are safe if things don't go our way. And you don't have to worry; so long as I'm nearby, no metal-clad weapon will come close to harming your daughter."

The king pondered Julian's words before saying, "Very well, young man. I'll be counting on you."

Julian returned his acknowledgement with a bow, then he turned to Elsa as he asked, "Well, your Highness, would you like me to carry you out to the ship?"

Elsa thought for a minute before she looked into Julian's eyes with a glint in her own as she said, "I've got a better idea."

* * *

Elsa's idea came from what Julian had shown her of the young man he'd trained with at that institute, the one who had powers like hers; specifically how he got around places quickly. Using one hand she created a slick ice bridge with pillars that extended into the seabed every few yards, while she used a blast from her other hand to propel herself along said bridge at a high rate of speed. Even though she was potentially heading into an extremely hazardous situation, Elsa couldn't help letting loose with a laugh of exhilaration, for she couldn't recall when she had more fun!

When she had gotten close enough to the Dukes ship to make out the individual people on board, Elsa could tell that they themselves were also spotted, for a thick rain of arrows was soon flying their way. Before she could think to form a shield to block them, Julian, who'd been flying though the air right beside her, raised both his hands in front of him, causing the air in front of them to shimmer as each and every arrow stopped in mid flight a few feet in front of them. They hung there for a few seconds until, with a flick of his wrists, Julian made them all turn around and fly back towards the ship, making each and every arrow embed itself into the main mast, resulting in it looking like a furry feather duster from a distance.

Before the stunned crew could recover to fire another volley or to man the cannons, Elsa and Julian landed on the deck, where the Duke of Weselton stomped towards them, waving his finger angrily at them as he ranted, "How dare you, witch!? How dare you and your minion come out here and attack me and my men like this!?"

"Take it easy, little man," Julian said gently, "I'm not her minion, and we didn't come out here to attack but rather to talk. It was you and your men who attacked us."

" 'Little man'?" The Duke said indignantly, the color rising in his face, " 'Little man'!? Don't you know who I am!? I am…!"

"…the Duke of Weselton, yes, we know," Julian interrupted in a placating tone, "Just as we know the reason that you're here, and we're here to attempt to talk you out of making another big mistake like the one you made last summer."

"The only mistake I made then was not ridding the world of this dark witch before she had grown so powerful!" the Duke spat back at him, "She…!"

"…did not do what you believe she did," Julian interrupted him again, "I know the reason you're here: You believe that Elsa had raised her parents by means of dark magic, but this assumption is false."

"Oh?" the Duke scoffed disbelievingly, "You expect me to believe that they were simply lost for three years and just now had managed to find their way home?"

"No, but Elsa is not responsible for their return, and no magic had brought them back, light or dark," Julian explained patiently, "Rather it was I who had saved them from being killed in that storm, using purely scientific means."

"I may be old, but I'm no fool!" the Duke countered, "There is no science that can raise the dead!"

"Not yet, but there will be. However, I didn't revive them, rather I saved them from dying in the first place…" Julian started to explain, then he trailed off with a sigh as he continued, "…and you're not going to listen to a single word I say, are you? Your heart is too full of fear now for any words of reason to reach you." Julian then turned to Elsa and said, "Come, your Highness. It's time we take our leave."

"You think that it'll be that easy, do you?" The duke said as his men drew their swords behind him.

"Of course," Julian responded casually, then he gestured at the main mast as he continued, "Don't forget how easily I'd deflected your first attack. Do you honestly believe that your swords will be any more effective against me?" When the Duke hesitated in his uncertainty, Julian continued, "I'll tell you what, Duke, if you and those allied with you turn around and head back now, then her Highness and I might be able to convince the King that this was only a moment of temporary insanity, and that he shouldn't take any further actions against you. If you continue in this mad endeavor….I won't kill you, for I think you should live to regret your actions. But I can't guarantee you won't get hurt, and you could well lose what little you have left. The choice, ultimately, is yours."

Then, without another word, Julian grabbed Elsa around the shoulders and took off from the deck before anyone could react.

Elsa, who herself was surprised by their sudden take-off, asked Julian, "So, what now?"

"Now I think you should make a tall and sheer ice wall across the width of the fjord," Julian instructed, "Make it as close to Arendelle's wall as you can, thicker and stronger near where the castle is, and thinner where the gate's at."

"Shouldn't I make it the same thickness throughout?" Elsa countered.

"No, they will certainly try and blast through the wall once it's up, and we don't want them to have a clear shot at the castle," Julian answered, "When the conflict comes, and at this point I'm certain it will come, we want them to come through that gate, where we can control the hostilities. I'll be able to protect the town from the cannonballs, but the fewer stray shots from odd angles I have to deal with, the better."

Elsa nodded her understanding, then she created her barricade according to how Julian specified.

As they returned to the docks, the King and the others approached them as they landed, asking them over the sounds of cannon fire, "I guess things didn't go as well as expected?"

"Not as well as I'd hoped, no," Julian agreed, "The fear of the Duke and the others is making them deaf to words of reason. However, I still feel that it may be possible to end this conflict without any bloodshed."

"How?" the King asked him, "I can't ask my men to risk losing their lives by not using their weapons to defend the town."

"Of course not, your Majesty," Julian agreed, "I think that your men should form a secondary defensive line, and if the conflict gets that far, then they should use every resource at their disposal to protect the civilians. But I plan on not letting it get that far."

"You're not thinking of taking on the Duke and his allies all by yourself, are you?" Kristoff also asked Julian.

"No, for even though I might be able to handle that many alone, such a huge and uncontrolled effort could well result in more than a few of them ending up dead, which is something we want to avoid if possible," Julian agreed as he went over to his ship's wreckage and opened a compartment that they hadn't noticed before, continuing as he reached inside, "Fortunately, I have made some friends during my journeys, and one group of them have a specific skill set that may be able to help us in this."

As he finished, Julian pulled out what appeared to be a musical instrument of foreign origin. It consisted of an ornately decorated brass disk that hung by a couple of woven fiber loops from an equally decorated wooden frame. It appeared to Elsa that it was of Oriental origin, not only due to the decorations that adorned it, but also to the wooden carving of a sinuous and fierce looking dragon that perched over the handle Julian was currently holding.

As Julian used the hit the disk with the rounded mallet, the disk made a loud ringing sound that temporarily drowned out the sounds of cannon blasts, then Elsa heard her gasp of surprise joined by those of others as the dragon on Julian's instrument came to life! Even though it remained the same size and shape, about as long as Elsa's forearm from nose to tail when stretched out, it now looked like a living miniature version of one of the oriental dragons of myth: it was covered in red scales with yellowish-orange ones on its underbelly, had horns on it's head and whisker-like feelers protruding from either side of its nose, and a frayed end on its tail. It also didn't look very happy about being woke up. Due to her being schooled in many different languages, in order to be able to discuss coherently with other world leaders they may have to deal with, she understood as the dragon began to curse in perfect Mandarin, "What is the big idea here? I thought I told you, I don't ring the gong no mo…." the dragon trailed off as soon as he saw who was holding the gong, then he said in a flat tone of voice, "Oh, it's you."

"It's nice to see you again as well, my friend," Julian said with a small smile.

" 'Friend'? Do you have any idea how much hard work it is to be the official guardian dragon of the hero of China? It's bad enough that I'm expected to keep her alive when she's expected to protect the country from every single lowlife that decides that they want to invade us, but I also have to make sure that the family legacy is carried on! Do you know how hard it is to arrange for the happy couple to get some quality 'alone time', especially when it seems that we're getting invaded every six months? I have to take care of the chickens so they don't make too much of a racket, make sure that any well-wishers and fanboys take a wrong turn on their way to her house, keep the room at the perfect temperature so that she doesn't have to get up to stoke the fire or open the window, corral the dog, silence the cricket, and so on! And your summoning me here is cutting into my busy schedule!" As the dragon rubs warmth into his upper arms (or was it forelegs), he asks in the same irritated tone, "Just where did you summon me anyways? It looks like some port city but feels like I'm back in the Himalayas!"

"This is the capital city of the kingdom of Arendelle," Julian explained to his little friend, "It just happens to be winter now."

"Winter!? Couldn't you summon me somewhere where it was warmer?" the dragon barked in complaint, "Like the Bahamas, with those umbrella coconut drinks and those fine hula dancers? Or even Tortuga? I wouldn't mind joining you for a game of Liar's Dice against your friend Captain Jack…."

"Mushu," Julian interrupted, "I'm sorry, friend, but I didn't summon you here for a vacation or anything like that. I called you here because I need your help. To be more precise, I need _her_ help. Could you go back and ask if she could bring her friends to…."

"What!? Hello!? Anybody home!?" Mushu yells into Julian's ear as he grabs the mallet for the gong from Julian's hands and hits him in the head with it, then he races back onto Julian's arm to look into his eyes as he continues, "Did you not hear the beginning of my rant? The happy couple need to be putting a bun in that oven, so that the noble house of Fa can continue on! That's hard enough with everyone seemingly wanting to invade China practically every six months!"

"I know," acknowledged Julian, "I was there during that last one, remember?"

"Exactly!" Mushu yelled at him, "So you, of all people, should be more understanding of their delicate situation! I can't be going back and asking them to cut into their family time in order to ask them to risk their lives in whatever dangerous adventure you have concocted in this frost bitten country!"

"Please, oh wise and noble Mushu, we do so greatly need the help only you can provide," Elsa asked as she dipped into a low bow from the waist, in the fashion that she recalled that those from the Orient preferred. Elsa wasn't sure exactly what help Julian was asking for here, but she knew she had to help pacify this strange dragon, as they had little time to waste in argument.

Mushu, who glanced at her appreciatively, asked Julian, "Oooh, who's this? I like her!"

"This is Elsa, Queen of Arendelle….'though I suppose, now that her parents have retuned, it would now be crown princess again?" Julian explained with a glance at Elsa in confirmation. When she nodded yes, Julian continued, "She is the reason I'm needing help here."

"Well why didn't you say so in the first place?" Mushu asked with a smile and a sly wink, "But I can help you with that all by myself! After all, you ARE talking to the Golden Dragon of Unity!"

"No you're not," Julian countered with a chuckle, "You only pretended to be that one time, remember?"

"Well I might as well be!" Mushu stammered, "After all, I was the one who brought the Hero of China and her sweetheart together in the first place! Not to mention those three princesses and the guardsmen that they fell for! They might as well change my title to Mushu, Great Golden Dragon of Unity!"

Anna, who had heard the entire conversation from her position at the other end of the docks, chuckled and said to Kristoff and Sven, "He reminds me of the trolls."

"I heard that!" Mushu yelled as he whirled on Anna angrily. As he ran across the docks to stop in front of Anna, Mushu ranted, "I can understand being called a lizard, but a troll!? Do I look. Like a troll. To you?"

As Anna shook her head nervously to say no, Sven mistook her nervousness as a sign of a threat and began to trample Mushu before Kristoff could drag him back. As Mushu peeled himself off the docks, he asked painfully to no on in particular, "Why am I always trampled by things with hooves?"

"I'm sorry, Sven is just very protective, that's all," Anna said apologetically as she helped Mushu upright again, "And I wasn't calling you a troll, only that your personality reminded me of the trolls who had raised my Kristoff here."

"Huh, well I guess that explains what I'd been smellin' since I got here," Mushu commented, then directly to Kristoff he said, "You, boy, need a bath! You smell like something your moose here threw up on!"

As Mushu jumps back to avoid being bitten by Sven in retaliation, Julian shakes his head as he says to Mushu, "I didn't bring you here for advice or for you to unleash your particular wit against these people. This country is on the verge of being invaded. In order to prevent said invasion without instigating a full-out war, I need the help of China's finest and bravest warriors."

"But what about these guys here? They look pretty handy in a fight," Mushu asked while gesturing at the nearby guards, "What can we do that these guys can't? For that matter, you're pretty skilled in a scrap yourself , so why can't you handle them?"

"As I finished telling these guys, there's too many of them for me to handle alone without accidentally killing some of them, and any bloodshed will invariably lead to war. And these guards, like the men currently trying to invade us, pretty much live and die by the sword, which would lead once again to the bloodshed that we want to avoid if possible," Julian explained, "On the other hand, your friends are as skilled in hand to hand as with a weapon, and thus would be able to knock some sense into them without killing anybody."

"I see, a little less hack-and-slash and more rough-and-tumble. Sounds like it might be fun," Mushu said with a sly smile, then he continued while gesturing towards the ice wall, "But I doubt those guys will put down their swords just because you asked nicely."

"Well, _that_ you don't have to worry about," Julian clarified, "As you yourself just said, I do have some skills. I'll be able to separate most, if not all, of them from their metal-clad weapons, which will be the most dangerous one they have. After that…"

"Okay, I think I get the picture, and it sounds like your idea could work," Mushu said, "Now I can't guarantee anything, but I'll head back and tell her what you said, see what she thinks."

"Thanks, Mushu, that's all I asked," Julian said gratefully. Then, as Mushu climbs back onto his position on the gong, Julian adds, "Just ring the gong twice if she accepts, or ring it once if she can't come."

"The gong….I knew there had to be a catch," Mushu grumped, "Anything else?"

"Yes, when they accept, have them meet together by the waterfall," Julian said, "Then ring the gong one more time when they're ready and I'll open the door."

"Okay, but I'm doing this for her," Mushu said as he pointed at Elsa, then continued as he resumed his original pose, "not for you. The things that I go through…"

With that last word, Mushu once again became a wooden carving adorning the oriental gong.

"Think that he'll do it?" Elsa asked.

"I'm sure that he will. Mushu is a pretty good soul, all things considered," Julian assured her, "And I'm sure that his friends will accept if they can, but whether or not they can is the real question."

"And if they can't?" Anna asked in concern.

"Then we'll have no choice but to take care of it by ourselves," Julian admitted, "I just wish that I had time to contact Hercules. He would have been a great help here, but he's frequently busy, not to mention just too far aw…."

Julian was interrupted by the sound of the gong ringing twice. He then looks back at Elsa and says, "They're going to come. Where's the nearest waterfall?"

"A little more than twenty-four kilometers due north," Elsa announces as she points in the general direction of the North Mountain.

Julian pinches his chin in thought a moment before announcing, "It'd take too long to get there and back, especially this time of year. Simpler to just make my own here. Very well. Your highness, if you could brief the others in how to properly greet our guests when they arrive, I'll prepare the way for them to do so."

While Elsa and her parents talked to the others, Julian went over to where the pieces of his ship were stacked. Then using his abilities, he electromagnetically lifted the largest intact section, the prow of the ship, and dipped it into the fjord until the make-sift giant cup was groaning from the effort of keeping the waters inside. Finally, when the gong sounded again some time later, Julian gestured with one hand, causing the ship's prow to slowly tip back and allow the water to cascade onto the end of one of the boardwalks, while with the other hand he drew a portal onto the face of the falling water.

As the warriors emerged from the portal, everyone bowed from the waist in the formal oriental style. However, Elsa couldn't help but think that this was the most eccentric group of warriors she'd ever seen. Even though they were all dressed similarly in oriental-style armor, they couldn't have looked more different from one another. One was short and had a bad eye, while another was tall and thin as a rail. A third was bigger than the first two combined, and looked like he hadn't missed a meal in his entire life (or anyone else's either). The fourth one through looked much more like the typical warrior from the orients that she had read about, and from his dress and the way he carried himself Elsa guessed that he must be a General.

The fifth one through was harder for Elsa to pin down. At first glance it appeared to be a young man, about half a head shorter than the General, and of leaner build. Then, as Elsa continued appraising him, Elsa thought that "young man" might actually be a misnomer: the hands and feet were too petite, the lips were too full, the skin too fair.

It was this fifth warrior that Julian addressed with a bow, saying, "You do us a great honor by coming in our hour of need, Fa Mulan!"


	5. 5) Warriors

**Warriors**

As Julian straightened from his bow, Julian said to Mulan and her warriors, "Thanks to you all for answering my call for aid."

"Think nothing of it, honorable Julian" Mulan replied with a bow of her own, "You were of a great help to us when China last faced an invasion. It would have been a great dishonor to not come when you needed our help."

"Besides, we heard from Mulan's little lizard that you had some skulls that needed cracking!" the shorter warrior with the bad eye added with a cocky smile, thumping his fist into his open palm in a show of thinly veiled enthusiasm, "I'm always up for a little workout!"

"I'd like to avoid the actual 'cracking' if at all possible, Yao," Julian said with a suppressed chuckle, "but yes; I do have some thick skulls that need some sense smacked into them."

"Well so long as I get to hit something, I'm good to go anywhere," Yao said with a shrug, his smile only lessening as he glanced down and added, "I just wish that the iguana didn't have to come along. He hadn't stopped his fussing since Mulan had insisted on coming with us."

Elsa followed Yao's gaze and, sure enough, the little dragon Elsa had been introduced to earlier was dancing frantically around Mulan's feet, saying, "…and watch your step over here, Mulan; there's a nasty patch of ice here. And over here the nails look rather loose, so you'll want to steer clear. And I know I saw some rot in this board, so you don't want to step here at all!"

"Mushu!" Mulan gently chides with a smile, stooping down to put her hand on his shoulder and to look him in the eyes, "Will you calm down? You're acting as though I'm already pregnant!"

Suppressing a chuckle at the adorable scene, Elsa looks over at Julian, but is shocked when she sees him, with his palm extended towards Mulan, his own smile melting away to be replaced with a concerned look that mirrored Mushu's. Clearing his throat, Julian addresses her, "Actually, Fa Mulan, it seems that you are. Pregnant, that is."

"What!?" A large number of people, including the Oriental warriors, say simultaneously.

"How do you know this?" the oriental general asked in concern as he placed his hand protectively on Mulan's shoulder.

"Mushu was making such a fuss, I felt I could reassure him by performing a scan of Mulan's biorhythms, General Shang," Julian explained to him, "That's when I felt it; a pair of cell clusters burrowed into her uterine wall. It's still extremely early in the development, and there's no guarantee that it'll take, but there's no doubt in my mind that your wife is currently expecting."

"Okay! That's it!" Mushu exclaimed to the crowd at large as he tried to push Mulan back up the boardwalk, "It was nice to meet all of you, especially you, funny little snow spirit, but it is time that we head back on home! Julian, get that door back open again: Mulan has left the building!"

"Mushu…" Mulan said kindly as she looked down at her friend, who was having no luck in getting her to move.

"No way, girl! You're not swaying me on this point!" Mushu said he scrambled up Mulan's leg so that he could perch on her shoulder and look her in the eye, "When you had insisted on coming here to repay your debt of honor to Julian for the help he gave us last year, I thought, 'Well, why not? It'll be best to get that cleared up now, rather than to wait until you have several little Fa's to take care of. But now that we know the next generation is already on its way…"

"But he said that I'm _barely_ pregnant, and that it's possible this one might not take anyway," Mulan argued, still smiling at her friend before turning towards Julian and asking, "Besides, I understand that some exercise is generally good for promoting the growth of healthy babies. Isn't that correct?"

"Well, er…yes, that is what I'd read back at the Institute that the experts mostly agree upon," Julian reluctantly agreed, looking rather uncomfortable that his own words were being used to justify his friend's argument for staying.

"Well fine, then when we get back you can do some jumping jacks and some chin-ups or something, but we're talking about mortal peril here!" Mushu countered, "We're talking about severe blunt force trauma! Lots of sharp, pointy things being shot and swung at you and your unborn child! And did I mention just how cold it is out here!?"

As the gangly warrior rubbed the back of his neck, looking rather uncomfortable at the argument between Mulan and Mushu, he turned towards Julian and asked, in an obvious attempt to change the subject, "So…um, what do you think it'll be? A boy or a girl?"

Julian, who looked rather grateful for something to take his mind off of the situation he'd unintentionally caused, looked back at the warrior with a weak smile as he answered, "It may be rather premature to be making such predictions at this point in time, but judging by the chromosome pairs I'd detected in each cluster, I would say that they will be…"

"Stop!" Mulan interrupted as she turned away from her argument with Mushu, "Don't say anything else, we don't want to know. I'd much rather it be a surpri….wait, did you just say 'they will be…'?"

"Well…yes," Julian confirmed, "I did mention earlier that I had felt a pair of cell clusters growing within Mulan. From what I can tell, it would seem as though it's going to be twins."

"Twins?" the rotund warrior asked for confirmation.

"Unidentical ones, but yes, Chien Po" Julian confirmed.

"Which is double the reason that you need to get your butt back home and put your feet up, missy!" Mushu said as he resumed his argument from where he'd been interrupted, "Forget about risking your life for honor for now!"

"I'm sorry, Mushu, but I can't," Mulan said kindly, "Even if I didn't owe a debt of honor to him, Julian is my friend. I can't just abandon him when he needs my help."

Mushu utters a growl of frustration and shoots smoke out of his nose before sitting on Mulan's shoulder and mutters poutingly, "Maybe I should have done what the ancestors told me to do in the first place and simply brought you straight back home, rather than trying to make you a war hero! No pedestal is worth all of these ulcers I'm getting!"

Mulan then reaches over and kisses her friend on the top of his head as she says, "Thanks, Mushu."

General Shang then returns from the top of the stairs, having taken in the lay of the land, and even though Elsa thought his eyes looked rather concerned and haunted as he briefly glanced at his wife, Shang's voice was crisp and professional as he looks back at Julian and asked, "What kind of force are we facing here?"

"There are about a dozen ships on the other side of that ice wall," Julian reported, "I estimate that each one can hold up to thirty armed men, not counting the crew. Of course, that number is bound to be less, due to the need for space for provisions and supplies, like gunpowder and cannonballs. Besides, it didn't feel as though all the ships were filled to capacity."

"What!? But that's…" Mushu paused in his exclamation as he magically summoned an abacus. Then after performing some calculations on it, he continued, "…over 360 men! And you expect to stop them with just the five of us!?"

"Six," Julian corrected, "I intend to fight along with you."

"As do I," Elsa seconded, and before her parents or sister could protest she hastily added, "After all, I'm the one the Duke and his allies had come here to kill, and I don't intend to endanger the lives of my countrymen by hiding behind them, nor do I intend to let this invasion go unanswered."

Elsa thought she saw a protest forming in Julian's eyes, but then she decided that it must have been her imagination as he continued, "The Duke's forces will most likely concentrate on the two of us, as they will see us as the larger threat. Once I've finished disarming the lot, that'll leave whatever stray forces remaining much easier for you guys to deal with."

"I'm sorry; you I can see them treating as a threat, but her?" Mushu said in disbelief as he gestured at Elsa, then before Julian could explain Mushu continued, "And even if you guys each draw off one third of the soldiers, that still leaves the five of us facing around one hundred men."

"Calm down, Mushu," Mulan assured him, "We had faced far worse odds against Shan Yu and his Hun army in the Tung Shao Pass, and we came out of that okay."

"Uh huh, you and I remember that event very differently, girl!" Mushu countered, "I remember you nearly getting gutted by Shan Yu himself, then nearly getting smothered in an avalanche which you set off yourself, followed almost immediately by you nearly losing your head,_ literally_, when it was discovered during your treatment that you weren't a guy! Besides, I don't see any nearby mountains for you to set off an avalanche this time, even if we had brought any rockets or if Julian hadn't been clear on his desire for those guys to still be breathing when this is all over."

"Mulan's right, Mushu," Julian tried to reassure him, "It'll be fine. You guys are much better at hand-to-hand then the men we'll be facing. Besides, we have other ways of evening out the odds."

Now it was Kristoff's turn to look concerned as he asked, "You aren't suggesting…?"

"No, I'm not, even though the idea I'm sure you had in mind wasn't entirely a bad one," Julian answered, "But even if we could contact them in time, I have no idea what kind of warrior skills the trolls have, or even if they're capable of fighting. Besides, I think that they'll be too heavy for what I have in mind."

"Well, we may have another problem," Shang stated, "I did an assessment, in it looks as though the town's streets will be too narrow for fighting the kinds of numbers you had indicated. If we tried, I have little doubt that numerous civilians will get hurt in the process, and I don't think that the invaders will relocate the battle to the fields beyond just because we ask them to."

"Of course you're right, General, but I had no intention of fighting there. The King and his men will remain here to make sure that the battle doesn't proceed past them and endanger his people," Julian explained, then he added as he gestured at the fjord, "We, on the other hand, will battle out there."

"Out there? In the freezing cold water?" Mushu asked in disbelief, "Look, Julian, I know that you have your special gifts and all, but Mulan and the others weren't mermaids last I checked!"

"Of course they aren't," Julian said with a chuckle, "Of course I didn't say anything about us fighting _in_ the water."

"Are you suggesting that I should…?" Elsa started to ask.

Julian confirmed with a nod as he said, "If you would, your Highness, 'though I would recommend only going as far out as the ice wall. Of course we'll want it nice and thick, and if you could add a layer of some hard-packed on top for traction, then we won't have to worry about anyone slipping and breaking their necks."

"Uh, does anyone know what Julian's talking about now?" Yao asked his friends.

Before anyone could answer, Elsa turned to face the fjord, and she felt a shock of surprise ripple through the newcomers as she unleashed a blast of power which quickly froze the water solid. A twirling gesture later, and the ice was itself covered in a thick carpet of snow. When she finished, Julian climbed down from the boardwalk, looking rather satisfied when there was little give under his feet.

As she and her friends climbed down to join him, Mulan said to Julian, "You certainly do have an interesting assortment of friends, noble Julian."

"Coming from one whom I also consider a friend, I am honored by your words, Fa Mulan," Julian replied with a smile, then he added as he cracked his knuckles, "Well then, I guess it's time for me to armor up."

After making sure that everyone stays clear from where he's standing, Julian then directs his attention towards the corner of the docks. Stretching his palm out towards his pile of wreckage, Julian's fingers crackle with electricity as the pieces first shudder then fly through the air towards him. As they reach his position, some of the more intact pieces come apart and reform in new configurations around him.

When they finally settled, Julian was suspended in what appeared to be the rough framework of a giant statue before it would be set into a mold and have gold or some other metal poured over it, only this framework seemed to move according to Julian's will. Elsa had to admit that it was an impressive display, but she didn't see how it could function as any sort of armor: There were many huge gaps through which even the most crude of weapons could get through to him.

It soon became apparent that he wasn't through, however, as he turned towards the town. As he gestured towards one of the waterfront shops, his skeletal suit mimicking his movement, the air soon became filled to almost painful levels of metallic clanging as more frying pans than Elsa could count came flying through the air towards them from the shop and the nearby houses through the open doorways and through the windows (whether they were open or not). There were a few other metal items among them; a knife here, a spatula there. Some of the pans still had food cooking on them. As they attached themselves in place on Julian's framework, the ringing got loud enough that even Elsa had to cover her ears.

Finally the noise died down to the point where she was able to hear the cannon blasts again. When Elsa looked back up, she saw that Julian's outfit was now looking more like a proper suit of armor. Still looking somewhat not human, the placement of the frying pans now gave it the appearance of being adorned in chainmail, with the only real gap of note being high up on its chest which gave Elsa a clear view of the satisfied expression on Julian's face.

As Julian had the suit pick up the main mast of his ship, which was the only part besides the sail which was not incorporated into his suit, and twirled it around in his hands, Julian mused aloud, "If I should ever meet her face-to-face, I really should think Rapunzel for showing me just how effective these frying pans could be."

"Rapunzel?" Elsa asked, recognizing the name, "You don't mean Princess Rapunzel of the Kingdom of Corona?"

"Huh?" Julian said as he turned around to face her, looking rather surprised himself, "I'm impressed that you put my comment now together with the story I'd told you earlier, but I don't recall ever mentioning the name of the Kingd…of course, I should have realized; Rapunzel was one of those who had attended your Coronation, wasn't she?"

"Yes, she was," Elsa confirmed, "So then the young man with her, he was a thief?"

"Ex-thief," Julian corrected, "Eugene Fitzherbert, a.k.a. Flynn Rider, gave up the life of crime the day he met Rapunzel. "

Mushu, Ling and Yao all snorted out laughs as Ling choked out, "Eugene Fitzherbert?"

"Yeah, you can see why he changed his name to Flynn Rider when he took up thievery," Julian agreed, "Ironically enough, the last job he'd pulled, prior to being brained by the princess with the frying pan, was the theft of the crown that was intended for Rapunzel herself, for the day that she would finally find her way back home after having been kidnapped as a baby."

"Kidnapped?" Anna said, who'd climbed down to the Ice but stayed near the docks, "That's awful!"

"Yes," Julian agreed, "She grew up without knowing anything of her royal heritage, honestly believing that her kidnapper, Gothel, was her over-protective mother. If it hadn't been for Flynn, rather Eugene, seeking refuge in her tower to avoid being found and arrested for his theft, Rapunzel might have remained in that tower for the rest of her life and the King and Queen would never have seen their daughter again. Of course I've already mentioned that I had a small hand in that happening: Clearing certain obstacles that would have changed Eugene's path in his flight from justice, making sure that Maximus had followed Eugene's scent up to the entrance to the hidden passage that he'd ducked down, but lost it again just prior to going inside, things like that. I'm sure they'd love to tell you the story if you asked, 'though I'd made sure that they were completely unaware of my involvement in those events."

"Since we seem to have some time, do you mind if I asked you something real quick?" Mulan asked while gesturing at the ice wall, "Do you know why those people are so determined to get in here? They've been pounding away at that wall for some time now, and it seems to me that most invaders would have given up by now, especially considering that they're coming from the sea."

"Well that would be my fault," Julian admitted, "I'd used my gift to retrieve Elsa's royal parents, saving them from perishing at sea in a storm three years ago, unaware that the Duke had a spy observing us from afar. The Duke got the wrong impression and now believes Elsa used dark magic to bring them back to life, so now he's here to 'liberate' the kingdom from her 'tyrannical' rule."

"And it was you!?" Mushu scolded, "Now Julian, I told you to stay away from that dark stuff! It figures that Tia Dalma and Mamma Odie would be bad influences! Ain't nothin' good could come from messin' with that creepy voodoo!"

"Now Mushu," Julian said with a small chuckle, "you know I have no talent for that…"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just messing with you man," Mushu interrupted with a

mischievous smile, "I get what you're saying; You did your little 'zap, zap' thing, and the backwards idiots out there think Platinum here did some hocus-pocus instead."

" 'Platinum'?" Elsa asked, confused by the reference.

"He's referring to your hair color," Julian clarified, and as he turned back towards her Elsa though she saw true concern in his eyes as he added, "Your Highness, I know that you wish to protect your Kingdom and your family, and of course you have every right to do so. However, I'm afraid that you have no real skill in hand-to-hand, and in the heat of battle I don't believe that anybody will be able to save you from another close call like the one you had with the Duke's men back at the ice palace. Perhaps it would be better if…"

"I may not have had as much experience in using my powers defending myself as you, but I'm far from helpless," Elsa interrupted defiantly, "If you can use your powers passively in this situation, then so can I."

With that, Elsa gestured upwards, and Ice formations began to lift her up even as they formed a transparent barrier around her. As everyone watched, ice crystals formed and grew until Elsa was standing within the torso of a beautiful humanoid ice sculpture, whose 'arms' and 'legs' moved along with Elsa's own.

"Wow!" Julian exclaimed in a tone full of wonder, "I think I like your golem suit better than mine! At the very least I'll bet your doesn't smell like burnt bacon and eggs!"

Elsa felt herself blushing even as she chuckled at Julian's joke. As the cracks in the ice barrier grew even larger and began to connect together, Julian announced, "All right, your Highness, I think it's time to break out some Marshmallows. I think an even dozen should suffice"

"Marshmallows?" Chien Po asked with interest, perking up at the mention of the treat Julian had introduced him to when they'd met. Yao, however, was somewhat more guarded as he said, "Uh, Julian, I don't think this is a good time to stop for a snack."

Elsa, on the other hand, knew exactly what Julian was asking for, as she directed her power outward at the snow-covered fjord before them, and she saw the warriors eyes widen in surprise as twelve gigantic snowmen grew before them, each a match for the one she'd used to throw Anna and Kristoff out of her ice palace last summer.

"Oh," Yao said softly, trying to sound impressed rather than scared, "_those_ Marshmallows!"

Elsa realized that she'd finished just in time, for a section of the ice wall just beyond the fjord's gate came crumbling down just as the last Marshmallow finished forming. She figured that the lot of them, grouped together like this, must have made for a very tempting target, for it wasn't more than a couple of heartbeats later when a large volley of cannonballs flew through the gap at their position. However, even before Mushu cried out in warning "Incoming!", Julian was already in motion. Reaching out with both hands, he released a burst of static and every single cannonball froze in mid flight, with one only a couple of meters away from crushing Elsa's ice suit and Elsa along with it. As the cannonballs began to glow white, Elsa could feel the heat rolling off the one close to her, threatening to melt her suit despite her powers working to keep it frozen.

"Impatient, aren't they?" Julian quipped with a cock-eyed smile, "They certainly didn't waste any time. Fortunately, I'm not as impolite as them, and I'm sure that they lost a lot of these trying to get through your wall. So if it's all right with you, your Highness, I think I'll just return these ones to them."

* * *

The Duke stared through the spyglass in stunned disbelief, as he was unable to accept that his luck was this bad! When they had broken through the barrier Queen Elsa had erected, the Duke had experienced a thrill of jubilation, only to have that immediately taken away. The witch, it seemed, had been two steps ahead of him. While the waters outside the wall had remained free, on the inside the fjord had frozen solid, which meant that if they wanted to rid the kingdom of the dark witch they'd have to proceed on foot.

In addition, the Duke had been sure that by sailing for Arendelle immediately, without sending ahead of them a declaration of war, that the element of surprise would be with them and that they'd be able to do what they had to with a minimal loss of life. However, not only did Elsa have with her a powerful ally, one who apparently had the ability to fly through the air and could turn arrows back on those who'd fired them, but she had warriors from the Orient with her as well! While the number of allies he saw with her were rather paltry, the fighting skills of those from the Orient were legendary!

Even more troubling than her "human" allies, however, were the monsters the Queen had summoned to her defense. He'd heard from the men he'd sent with Hans last summer the reports of the snow beast that had been defending Elsa's ice palace, of its monstrous strength and how it had resisted all forms of attack. And now here they were facing no less than a dozen of them.

Still, the Duke had felt they had some luck to them back then, as all the defenders were knotted together in one group, as if they weren't expecting them to get through the wall that soon. In addition, Queen Elsa had enclosed herself in a gigantic armor made of ice, making herself a larger and easier target and Elsa's ally had done the same by enclosing himself in a metal behemoth. Elsa's ally had hinted that he was impervious to attacks that involved metal, but the Duke thought it the barrage was large enough and heavy enough, then surely something would get through.

As usual, he was wrong. Not only had Elsa's ally managed to catch every single cannonball, including the one that had been about to take out the Queen, but he had managed to send them back in a trajectory that perfectly intercepted the second volley! Not merely intercepted; the cannonballs, which were glowing as brightly as stars in the winter sun, actually seemed to _absorb_ those that were shot later, growing in size and not changing one degree in their return path to the ship!

"Look out!" one of the sailors bellowed as everyone scrambled out of the way. As the Duke covered his head and felt the intense heat on his back, he thought that this was the end. The witch's ally had not kept his word to spare their lives, not that the Duke had expected anyone associated with a witch to do so. However, when the heat started to die down again, the Duke summoned up what courage he had to look at what happened.

It turned out that the warlock, which is what Elsa's ally had to be, apparently had an aim that was inhuman! The cannonballs that he'd sent back had managed to strike the cannons perfectly in their barrels! As they'd grown too large to go back down inside, the cannonballs instead had welded themselves over the ends as one misshapen lump of metal, rendering the cannon useless as a weapon.

Once the cannons were once again cool enough to touch, the sailors gave up on removing the piece blocking the ends and instead simply pushed them overboard. As they scrambled to move the ones on the other side into position, however, the Duke cried out for them to stop. "If we fire, the warlock will simply ruin these cannons as well. If there's to be any chance of success here, we need to focus our efforts on the warlock in that metal clad behemoth there. Captain, I want you to take your men and focus on taking him out of commission. If you find that you have a clear shot at the Queen then feel free to take it, but the Warlock should be our top priority. I believe that our chances of success will greatly improve once he's no longer a factor."

"As you command, my lord," the captain of the guard said with a bow, then he began to issue the orders to his men. As the captain started to disembark, the Duke realized he forgot to have the troops remove their metal weapons. He started to call out for them to wait, then he hesitated and held back. Thinking back, the duke came to understand that he'd been underestimating these people since he'd first met them, and that folly had led to humiliation after humiliation. He realized that if he stood any chance of liberating this kingdom from the clutches of its dark enchantress, then he'd need to know exactly what his foes were capable of. As the lieutenant prepared to lead the second group of men after the captain, the Duke held up his hands and said, "One moment, Lieutenant. Before you go, there's something I need you and your men to do."


	6. 6) Strategies

**Strategies**

As Julian and the others watched the Duke's warriors disembark from his ships and begin their charge towards them, Mulan got into her ready stance as she said, "You were right, noble Julian. They are coming, and it does seem as though the numbers are indeed fewer than what the ships are capable of holding."

"So it seems, but something's not right," Julian said in a concerned tone, "I feel that there are more men remaining on the ships than what could be accounted for by the crew, and the men the Duke sent out still have their metal weapons and armor. Between my warning to the Duke earlier and my repelling of both of his attacks against us, surely by now he's figured out my control over metal. No, the Duke's up to something, probably wants to see what all we're capable of."

"So then, what do we do?" Asked Elsa in her giant ice suit, its condition pristine again after what minor melting it had suffered from the white-hot cannonball was reversed.

"Nothing we can do save for defending this kingdom and its people," Julian said as he moved to take a position ahead of the line of giant snowmen, "If the Duke wants a show, then we'll give him one he won't soon forget!"

As he finished speaking, Julian sent a huge number of frying pans flying out from the front of his suit with the speed of an arrow, while at the same time he invisibly ripped the swords and other metal weapons out of the shocked hands of the soldiers charging towards them, followed almost immediately by pieces of their armor. Little more than one-third of the soldiers on the front lines barely had time to blink before the cookware collided with their helmetless heads and dropped them like stones, and Elsa saw the dawning realization that they were outmatched appear on the remaining soldier's faces a second before the pans knocked out an equal number on their return to reattach to Julian's suit over a new mesh formed from the soldiers' confiscated weapons.

The line of giant Marshmallow snowmen seemed to take this as their signal to begin their advance. Weaponless, with a good portion of their forces out cold from Julian's initial attack, and now facing an advancing line of giant snow beasts, the chaos and panic that ensued amongst the soldiers' ranks was so predictable to Elsa that it might as well have been scripted.

Some of the soldiers attempted to take on the giant snow men directly. Whether they thought they had a chance of taking them down themselves, or if they were simply attempting to serve as a distraction to allow the others to get to her and Julian, Elsa wasn't sure. The only thing she knew for sure was that they might as well have been plush dolls for all the good they were doing against the frozen guardians, as the soldiers assaulting them were backhanded, tossed, and punted into submission. Thankfully the soldiers seemed only unconscious or dazed, so apparently her will that nobody was to be seriously harmed was keeping the Marshmallows' strength in check.

Meanwhile, the Oriental warriors were busy picking off strays that were trying to get at the docks behind them. The only ones that Elsa had a clear view of right now were the trio of men named Yao, Ling and Chien Po. Never the less, she saw that despite their odd appearance they were indeed outstanding warriors, managing to take on odds of around three-to-one with nothing more than their bare hands.

Of course, it wasn't like she was idle the entire time, as a squad of soldiers came directly for her. With a single backhand, she had managed to send some of them flying back a few yards. Realizing that her protective suit also came with enhanced strength, she worked to try and hold herself back while defending herself, choosing instead to use light jabs and to grab some of the men and lob them at their comrades.

The most impressive sight in this fight was Julian himself, the displays of power he'd shown since he first arrived were as nothing compared to what he was displaying now. Situated at the center of what appeared to be a whirlwind of frying pans, he was busy taking on the bulk of the force that had emerged from the ships. Even though they seemed to have him in numbers, that didn't seem to matter as he tore through them like a tornado, not a single man managing to get through his barrage.

"It's an impressive sight, isn't it?" Mulan said from Elsa's right, whom Elsa hadn't noticed she was there until she'd judo flipped a man over her shoulder and knocked him out with a single blow. "He'd used a similar tactic when the Huns tried invading a second time under a new commander, but we didn't exactly have frying pans in our country so he used woks instead."

"I remember," General Shang said as he took out a couple of men himself before planting a kiss on Mulan's cheek, "I think the sight of all those woks scared the Huns more than anything else. They must have thought we'd contracted the services of a cannibal giant who was going to cook them for supper."

Elsa felt as though she agreed with them. At the same time, however, she thought it was going much too smoothly. While the fact that they'd managed so far to take down around eighty of the 120 men that'd emerged from the ships without killing any of them was impressive, she agreed with Julian that there should have been more considering the number of ships they'd arrived in. The Duke of Weselton was certainly planning something, the only question was what it was and when he'd do it.

As it turned out, they didn't have to wait long at all. The second wave of soldiers soon emerged from the ships, and it was readily apparent that their time was not entirely spent in idle spectating. Rather than being clad in the metal armor that Julian had stripped the first group of, these men were wearing winter apparel with a mixture of furs and heavy cottons. Additionally, instead of hefting the more traditional swords, maces and the like, these men were wielding various items scavenged from the ships' holds; Ropes, fishing nets, wooden mallets, and whips of various types, all weapons with little to no metal content.

So it had seemed that Julian's control over metal had not gone unnoticed by the Duke, and he'd allowed the first group to go ahead in order to keep her friends busy while he prepared this group to better deal with her visitor and ally. Judging by what she was seeing, it appeared that the Duke's strategy was already having some success. Four of her Marshmallows had been taken down shortly after the second group arrived, either tangled up in nets, being dragged down by ropes, or having their knees bashed in with the mallets. While there were still eight remaining, and she'd been aware that not all of the snowmen she'd created might not be able to make it through the battle, their "deaths" still struck home in her heart.

Even more troubling than the though of losing the rest of them was the knowledge of what that would mean for Mulan and her friends. Right now they were okay because the soldiers had identified Julian, herself, and her Marshmallow army as the larger threats. The minute that any of those three groups were taken down, however, would mean that there would be even more hands to add to any of the assault groups, including the ones the Oriental warriors were facing. Add that to the fact that they all had been fighting since Julian had disabled the ship's cannons, that meant that it would only take one exhausted misstep to bring about the end.

The thought that Mulan's child might possibly die before it even had a chance to live filled Elsa with great fury. However, before she had a chance to act upon her feelings she saw something that froze her in her tracks: Julian was smiling! It was surely impossible to notice such a detail from as far away from him as she was, particularly since he was mostly covered in his make-shift armor, but she could swear that his smile was blinding her from here even as his attention was on a group of whip-and-club-wielding soldiers that were heading towards him.

Elsa's attention was so tightly focused on Julian that she nearly leapt out of her skin when he unexpectedly burst out of his suit in a leap that carried him twenty yards over the wide-eyed and dumbstruck soldiers before him, while his discarded armor collapsed into a pile and shot an equal distance behind him to land at the end of the docks near where Elsa, Olaf, Sven and Kristoff were taking refuge. As he reached the end of his leap, Julian laid out one of the soldiers charging him with a single punch and confiscated his weapon: a long and thick bullwhip.

As Julian inspected the whip with a smirk on his face, the soldiers seemed to realize that the opponent who'd caused them so much trouble was now suddenly much more vulnerable and most of them charged him, anticipating an easy victory.

Then Julian was in motion, and to Elsa's eyes it appeared as if he'd transformed into a totally different person. Before, when he was in his armor, Julian was like a force of nature, relentless and unstoppable. Now, he was like an elemental; as beautiful and graceful as any of the fairies her parents told her stories about when she was small, just as playful, and just as spiteful as they were said to be.

Watching Julian fight now was to see combat turned into a dance that's just as beautiful as any of the ballets that she'd ever remembered seeing. Not a single movement was wasted. With a forward snap, he disarmed a man before him. As it snapped back, he yanked the feet out from under a soldier that had been approaching from behind. As it snapped forward again, it grabbed a soldier by the arm and he pulled the man towards him to knock him out with one blow.

As the cracks filled the air in rapid succession, not too many soldiers dared to get within the radius of his whip's length, and those who did were repaid for their efforts with red welts and lots of yelping. The most amazing thing about this to Elsa was not his skill or his gracefulness, however; it was the look upon Julian's face. Since his arrival, Julian seemed to be burdened by a load of grief and guilt that was far greater than anything Elsa had felt herself. Now, however, that burden seemed to lifted for the moment and his face was filled with the joy of life he must have been denying himself since he was young. It was absolutely dazzling.

Elsa knew that she'd allowed herself to get too distracted when she felt a tug on the right arm of her suit. Looking down, she saw that a small knot of soldiers had looped a rope around that arm and were now working together to try and pull her down the way others had pulled down her Marshmallows.

What happened next wasn't something she'd planned or even thought about, and when asked later she would say it must have been instinctual. All Elsa knew at the time was that a snowball shot out of that hand of her suit at high speed and hit one of the soldiers in the face, knocking him in to his comrade helping him pull on one end of the rope and causing them both to lose their grip on it. The soldiers who had been pulling on the other end suddenly met with no resistance, and their momentum caused them to fall onto their back.

Elsa wasn't sure who was more surprised by this turn of events, she herself or the soldiers who'd came all this way to kill her. Turning the hand over, she saw on the suit's palm had formed a round porthole. While she had not factored in any such design when she was creating her suit, she could not help but think that its appearance was familiar to her. She was dumbstruck when its resemblance came to her; it was similar to the ports on the hands of the armor she'd seen in Julian's tale of his past, the one that flew around in that city of wonders.

As that memory surfaced, yet another one emerged. Elsa remembered how, some time before her first accident, she and Anna would engage in snowball fights. Of course it wasn't long before Anna would stop starting those fights with Elsa, claiming she had an unfair advantage (and, in truth, she had).

Those flashes of memory only took a couple of seconds, and when she came back to the present the soldiers were back on their feet looking angry. Any concern she might have felt, however, was swamped over as her long-suppressed playful and mischievous steak came to the fore.

Pointing both palms, which were now sporting identical portholes, at the soldiers, Elsa called out with a smirk on her face, "You want to play, boys? Let's play!" The men then found themselves cowering and ducking their heads as they faced a rapid-fire barrage of high-speed snowballs aimed their way.

As the soldiers assaulting her fled the way they came, Elsa then turned her aim at those engaged with the oriental warriors, then towards those assaulting Julian. As she continued her barrage, Elsa felt the dumbstruck stares of her parents and guardsmen pressing on her back, but at the moment she was having far too much fun to care.

A scream spitting the air shook Elsa out of her moment and drew her gaze towards the end of the docks, where she saw a knot of soldiers racing there towards the discarded pile that had been Julian's armor, most likely hoping to reclaim their weapons. The only things in their way: a determined Kristoff and a terrified Anna. Before Elsa could turn her aim to their aid, however, Anna reached behind her and swung wildly with what she'd grabbed, her eyes squeezed shut in terror. The air rang three times as the frying pan she'd obtained found its mark with each swing. When Anna managed to open her eyes, she found three soldiers unconscious at her feet, the remaining soldiers fleeing under a barrage of snowballs being thrown by some of the local kids who'd braved the streets to lend a hand.

"Did….did I do that?" Anna asked in disbelief to no one in particular.

"Hoo whee! Now_ that's_ what I'm talking about!" Mushu said in admiration, "Girl, if you ever get tired of the cushy palace lifestyle, you should come on down to China! You have real potential for being a fast riser in our army, which is now accepting applications from the fairer sex!"

"Where are you going!? Get back here!" an unpleasantly familiar voice bellowed, and as she turned her gaze in its direction she recognized the short rear profile of the Duke as he yelled at the retreating soldiers, "It's only snow, you cowards! Stand and fight!"

Elsa wasn't sure why she hadn't noticed him leaving the safety of his ship, but she figured he'd been behind the line of the second advance, so his calling anybody else a coward took a lot of nerve! As she approached him to tell him so, Julian got there ahead of her and said down to him, his arms crossed in front of his chest, "Well, your Lordship, your assault against this kingdom has been thwarted and you are nearly out of men. Are you ready now to end this folly and listen to reason?"

"Are you kidding me?" the Duke asked in disbelief, looking at Julian as if he'd been speaking a different language, "You may have broken the will of my soldiers, but the crew onboard my ships have braved the sea for a great number of years, which I feel make worth ten of my men! Besides, if you think I've run out of allies then you've got another thing coming!"

"What do you mean?" Elsa firmly asked when she was close enough, feeling apprehension trickling down her spine.

The Duke smirked up at her as he answered, "Before I came to save this kingdom from you, 'Your Highness', I had sent a letter to a place I believe you might be familiar with, asking for their assistance with this liberation. While the distance they were from us made waiting for their answer unfeasible for the success of this operation, I have little doubt that they will come and help us crush you, witch!"

As Elsa was deciding whether or not the Duke was bluffing, she heard the captain of her guard called out, "Incoming vessels at 12 'o clock, Your Highness!"

Panic choking her throat, Elsa formed a spyglass from an ice crystal in her suit's hand and her heart sank at what she saw: two dozen ships were approaching her kingdom at high speeds, twice as many as what the duke himself brought, all of them flying the colors of the Southern Isles. A couple of months after she'd deported Hans for his attempt on the lives of herself and her sister, she'd written them asking about what they'd decided to do about his act of treason. She hadn't yet received a reply, but at the time she figured that was likely due to the distance between them making a quick answer impossible. Apparently this massive force was their answer.

As the Duke smirked at the look of despair in Elsa's eyes, he turned his smug expression towards Julian and asked, "Now, warlock, you were saying something about a surrender?" Then she saw the smirk melt from his features as it was replaced by a look of annoyed confusion as he added, "What are _you_ smiling about?"

Elsa turned her surprised gaze towards Julian to see that, indeed, he was smiling broadly as he answered, "Because I felt the men on those ships loading their cannons and, judging by their trajectory, they're not aiming them at us!"

"What!?" the Duke yelled as he whirled around to face the sea. As Elsa followed his gaze, she saw the first volley from the ships from the Southern Isles just barely miss a direct hit with the ships belonging to the Duke and his allies! "What are they _doing!?_" The Duke asked in fearful confusion.

"Apparently those ships have come to our aid, not yours," Julian answered simply, "Now, before you had proceeded with your foolish assault, I informed you that we would do our best to not kill any of you, but I cannot speak for our newest visitors. If you care for the lives under your command, and I get the feeling that you do, I would strongly advise that you tell the men on your ships to raise the white flag before the others can finish reloading."

Elsa saw the Duke's face turn several different shades before he visibly deflated. Then he quickly turned back towards the sea and began frantically waving a white handkerchief over his head. The air was then shattered with the sounds of cheers as all of Elsa's people and allies watched as white flags were run up the masts of the Duke's ships.

* * *

After the Duke's men were escorted back to their own ships, where one of Elsa's men and one of the arriving ships kept watch to make sure they didn't try anything funny, Elsa thawed the fjord to allow the other twelve ships from the Southern Isles passage into the harbor. As several men disembarked from the ships and asked what aid they could offer, twelve young men headed directly towards Elsa and knelt at her feet. Judging by their fine attire and their physical resemblance to Hans, Elsa could only assume that they were the older brothers he'd mentioned when he was courting her sister.

"Your Highness, my name is Samuel, crown prince of the Southern Isles," The eldest brother introduced himself, "And on behalf of my brothers, our parents, and our kingdom, I would like to formally apologize for the actions taken by our youngest brother and ask that you don't take them as being indicative of our kingdom as a whole."

"So you hadn't come in response to the Duke's letter requesting your aid?" Elsa asked him.

"We had departed before any such letter had arrived, not that we would have participated in such a blatant act of treason," Prince Samuel confirmed, "We should be heading back soon to let our parents know that the Duke's plans have been stopped, in case his letter had made it through. The truth is that we wanted to reply to your letter right away, to inform you that our parents had stripped our brother of his title and sentenced him to 30 years in our dungeon for what he'd done. However, our islands suffer from terrible typhoons around that time of year, making any such reply treacherous at best. By the time the typhoons ended, we figured a direct reply would be best, as any letter sent after such a delay would not sound sincere enough. My brothers and I volunteered to deliver said reply, as we felt responsible for the way our youngest turned out, ignoring for two years and all. When we saw your kingdom under siege upon our approach, we felt that we ought to lend you a hand, as part of our apology."

"You certainly did give us a scare, showing up as you did when we had everything just about wrapped up," Elsa admitted, "but we do thank you for your aid and accept your kingdom's apology."

"And you shouldn't blame yourselves for what your little brother did," Anna added, "My sister had shut me out and left me practically alone for about eight time as long, and I never once thought about doing what Hans had done. Of course she was only ignoring my requests for company because she was trying to protect me from her powers which she had yet to learn to control," Anna added quickly when she saw an apology starting to form on Elsa's lips, "but I had no way to know that at the time, now did I?"

As Elsa returned her sister's smile, Prince Samuel said with a second bow towards Anna, "We thank your Majesties for your kindness and generosity."

"Think nothing of it," the King said with his own bow, "As my eldest had said, your aid came as most welcome during this crisis. Now the only thing left to do is decide what is to be done about the one responsible for leading this most treasonous invasion."

As Elsa followed her father's gaze, she saw the Duke still sitting on the boardwalk, right where they'd left him as they went to greet Samuel and his brothers. As Julian stood by his side, looking down at him as the Duke stared in stunned disbelief at the tin soldier he was fiddling with in his hands, Elsa recalled that while she was busy thawing out the fjord, Julian was showing the Duke something in one of his windows. Then Julian had created a portal on the surface of the water, one much smaller than the one her parents had emerged from, and that toy had popped out of it. Julian then caught it before it could fall back in and handed it to the Duke.

"I…I lost this years ago, when I was on a trip with my parents!" The Duke said in a tremulous voice, speaking for the first time since the ships started sailing in through the gate, "I was playing with it on the ship's railing when we hit a hard breaker that made me lose my grip and caused it to topple into the sea. I was so devastated when it was gone. My parents tried to cheer me up by getting me a whole set of replacements, but it was not the same. How did you…?"

"I told you earlier, I simply recovered it from when and where you lost it, by opening a path for it to travel from then and there to here and now," Julian patiently explained, "Much in the same way I'd saved Elsa's parents from perishing in that storm."

"So, then then they weren't brought back to life?" the Duke asked, sounding much like a small child who is realizing he may have made a terrible mistake.

"No, they never died in the first place, due to my intervention," Julian confirmed, "and there was no magic involved. The pathways already exist, for those who have the knowledge of where to find them and the ability to access them."

"I…I see," The Duke said in a small voice, then as he rose slowly, looking for once as the old man that he was, he turned to Elsa and said with a bow in her direction, "It would seem that I also owe you an apology, your majesty. No…I suppose that an apology would not do in my case. Twice now I had listened to my own fears and old superstitions, and on both occasions I had committed terrible acts of treason against you. In the end, I guess that I'm nothing but an old fool."

"You're right, it's not enough," Elsa confirmed, "but the fact that you're admitting your shortcomings out loud means you're taking a step in the right direction."

"So, my daughter," The king asked as he walked up and placed a hand on her shoulder, "how do you want to handle this?"

"Me?" Elsa asked in shock, "But father, you're the king! You're the only one who has the right to make decisions on matters of this grave importance!"

"No daughter, I'm not," the King gently disagreed, "You are…"

"Please tell me that this isn't about that whole 'having failed us' nonsense!" Elsa pleaded.

"No, it isn't," the king chuckled, "but as I was gong to say…you were crowned properly when your mother and I were presumed dead, a situation that if it weren't for your friend Julian would be a fact. In addition, you have proven yourself as a capable leader, both in times of peace and during times when war is imminent. Furthermore, you have shown loyalty towards your subjects in your willingness to fight to protect them. I could not think of a more suitable person to have seated in the throne, and I see no reason to delay in passing down my crown, effective immediately."

"But if I were to take it, what would happen with you and mother?" Elsa insisted.

"Don't you worry dear," the Queen assured her, "We'll be fine."

"Indeed," agreed the King, "Just because I'm stepping down from the throne doesn't mean that I'm going anywhere. You have a kind heart and good instincts, the only thing that you're lacking in is experience. As your new Regent Advisor, I would be more than willing to help guide you in any areas that you may be unsure of. As far as I'm concerned, though, you have more than earned your crown, so it is yours." When Elsa did not answer right away, the King said with a cockeyed smile, "Please don't make an old king beg."

Chewing on her lip, Elsa saw out of the corner of her eye as Mulan, with a mischievous twinkle in her own, said to her, "Make him beg."

With a small chuckle, Elsa looked her father in the eyes as she said, "Well, your Highness, since you're so insistent, I suppose that I have no choice but to accept this great honor you've bestowed upon me. I'll strive to make you proud!"

The King then embraced Elsa as he said softly, "You already have, my daughter. You already have." Then he pulled out of the embrace and, keeping one arm around her shoulders he announced to the gathered crowd, "Now here this! By the power invested in me, I hereby do decree that, from this day forward, Elsa will be known as the rightful Queen of Arendelle! Long live the Queen!"

"Long Live the Queen!" the crowd echoed along with Julian, Mulan, and their friends as they let loose a round of jubilant applause.

"My Queen," the Duke said as he dipped into a deep bow, sounding genuinely remorseful, "And if I might ask, what fate is to befall a faithless old man such as me?"

"You had attempted to have me killed, twice. I believe that, under the circumstances, the traditional punishment would be your beheading," Queen Elsa said in an even tone. When the Duke swallowed down the lump in his throat, Elsa continued, "However, this is the time of the Winter Festival, and this joyous occasion has already been tarnished by your unprovoked attack. I would not have it soiled further with the specter of death, so I will turn to my Regent Advisor to see what he may suggest."

Elsa's father then returned her bow as he said, "Thank you, my Queen." He then turned back towards the duke as he said, "Back when I was King, I too would have had your head for assaulting my family twice, particularly for such an unprovoked assault as this one. However, I understand that your first attempt, 'though misguided, was at least partially provoked when my daughter had inadvertently plunged her kingdom into an unnatural winter that threatened everyone?"

"This is true my Kin…I mean, my Lord," The Duke confirmed, "At the time, I was convinced that she had done it deliberately, but I now realize that I was…"

Elsa's father held his hand up to silence him, then he continued, "And I understand that, as punishment for your transgressions, the Queen had cut off all trade agreements with your providence?"

"Yes, this is true," the Duke confirmed.

"I am familiar with trade embargos," Elsa's father stated, "and I know that, most often, it is the common citizen who suffers the worst from such a restriction. Is it not the case here, Duke?"

"It is, my Lord," the Duke confirmed, "I've already had a good number of my people move away in order to try and find a better life."

"And I imagine that this might have helped you to decide that my daughter was a tyrant who needed to be deposed by any means possible?"

"Well…er…that is…" the Duke stammered before he sighed and cast his eyes down in shame and said, "It may have played a factor in it, my Lord."

"Such a punishment as you have already received may have been somewhat extreme for your transgression then, particularly considering the circumstances surrounding it. However, we cannot change what has been already been done, nor can we overlook your most recent transgression because of it. So here is what I propose: Arendelle would once again restore the trade agreement with Weselton…"

"Oh, thank you!" The Duke exclaimed, "Thank you, my Lord!"

Elsa's father held his hand up for silence once again before continuing, "…in exchange, as the punishment for your transgressions, you will renounce your title of Duke, and all the rights and privileges that come with it, and never set foot in Weselton or Arendelle ever again. The blame for this assault will be held on you, and you alone."

"What?" The Duke said in shock, "Banishment? Lose my title? I'd live as a commoner in a strange land?"

"That, or we could go with the beheading option," Elsa's father suggested.

The Duke seemed to wrestle with himself before sighing and saying in a resigned tone, "I suppose, under the circumstances, it is fairer that someone like me deserves. Very well, my lord, I will accept your offer of banishment in exchange for lifting the trade embargo from Weselton."

"Not so fast," Elsa's father said, "Don't forget: I'm only the Regent Advisor to the throne now. It's up to the Queen to decide whether or not to take action on what I'd suggested here today."

As the Duke looked upon Queen Elsa hopefully, she looked disdainfully upon him as she said, "You are right, this action is indeed fairer than someone like you deserves. However, I feel that it is the best option I can think of. Very well, then, it will be done. You will be allowed to return to your residence to gather up your personal belongings, as well as some valuables to help finance your start on your new life. Up to two others who are willing to share in your banishment may be allowed to help you in this, but you and they may only take what you can carry in a single trip. Once you set foot outside your door, you may not return inside for any reason, nor will you be permitted to simply toss items out of the windows to try and circumvent this ruling. So long as you abide by this decision, and you never try to return to Weselton or Arendelle, then the trade agreement between our two lands will remain intact."

"You are a wise and generous leader, my Queen. Thank you," the Duke said with a bow.

"Just make sure that our paths never cross again," Elsa replied, "That will be thanks enough, Duke."

"It's Laurant, my Queen," the former Duke corrected respectfully, "I'm no longer the Duke of Weselton, after all." Then he gave her one final bow and walked over to where the ships stood waiting.

"I would be honored to escort the former Duke to Weselton to ensure that he honors his end of the bargain," Prince Samuel offered.

"We would appreciate that," Queen Elsa accepted, "And we would like to send one of our people with you as well, in order to help restore Weselton to what it once was, and to manage things until a new representative can be chosen from amongst its own people."

"Of course, my Queen," Prince Samuel agreed, then he bowed and turned to escort Laurant to his ship.

Once the final preparations were ready and the ships of Samuel and the others began to sail off, Mulan and her friends turned to Elsa and her family and said I guess it's time that we were heading home as well.

While Julian went off to reassemble his water scoop, Elsa grasped Mulan's hands in both of hers as she said, "I'd like to thank you again for everything that you've done, Fa Mulan, everybody. I shudder to think of how things may have turned out if you weren't here."

"It was nothing, your Majesty," Mulan said with a smile, "I had a…"

"…debt of honor to Julian for his helping you in the past," Elsa finished for her, "Yes, I know, and that might account for your friends coming here. But you…" Elsa gently placed her right hand on Mulan's abdomen as she continued, "…you had risked so much to stay and help us, more than anybody should ever have to risk. 'Honor' just doesn't seem to quite cover it."

"I'm sure you don't understand, as our cultures are so different," Mulan said as she looked down towards her own abdomen, placing her own hand over Elsa's, "but back home, honor means everything to us. Besides, as I said before, Julian is my friend, just as much as you are now. I don't think I would have been able to look my children in the eyes knowing I'd let the one who had made it possible for them to be born die by abandoning him when he needed me the most."

"Well, thank you again," Elsa said, "Are you sure you don't want Julian to tell you what they will be?"

"I am sure. 'To know how a butterfly will appear before it emerges is to remove the mystery and wonder that lies within the cocoon.' We would like to be surprised," confirmed Mulan.

"Exactly," seconded Shang, "Anyway, I'm anticipating a boy and a girl, in which case I'm thinking of the names Yin and Yang for them."

"Those would be lovely names," Mulan agreed, "Of course we'll have to prepare for the possibility it may be two boys or two girls."

"Of course," Shang conceded, "We'll start brainstorming names as soon as we're back home and have broken the news to your parents."

"Oh boy!" Mulan replied, her face a mask of fearful anticipation, "I think I'd rather face both the Duke's forces _and_ the Mongol hordes single-handed, rather than to have to face another one of Grandmother's monster parties!"

This sets everyone laughing, and Elsa couldn't help joining in. Then her eyes are drawn over to Julian, who is talking to Mushu perched on his shoulder while levitating the completed water scoop over one hand.

"…so, as you see, I'm going to be rather busy for a while, but feel free to give me a ring, in say nine or ten months, preferably not in a moment of mortal peril, and I'll tell you how right or wrong you were on your predictions," Mushu was saying.

"Julian!" Mulan said in protest, "You didn't just tell_ Mushu_ did you!?"

"He asked!" Julian said defensively, "But I made him promise beforehand to honor your wishes and not tell you unless you asked him specifically."

As Mulan looked askance at her little friend, Mushu said to her, "I'm sorry, girl, I_ had_ to know! Besides, you know me: I'm the king of the zipped-lip!" He finished his statement with a mimed motion of drawing a zipper across his lips.

"Uh-huh, sure you are, Mr. 'you know how I like to gab'," Mulan said in a disbelieving tone, then she wagged her finger at Julian, saying, "I'll get you back for this, Julian."

"I'll be looking forward to it," Julian said with a bow and a chuckle.

As Mulan and the others moved to the end of the boardwalk, Mushu whispered into Julian's ear (even though Elsa could hear him perfectly), "And Jules, just between you and me, that Queen girl is_ way_ too fine for you. If I _ever_ hear that you went and made her cry or anything, the can of whoopass I'll open on you will make today's ruckus seem like a jaunt to the candy store!"

"I'll keep that in mind," Julian replied still smiling as Mushu leaped over to perch on Mulan's shoulder.

As Julian once again created his man-made waterfall, Elsa held something our to Mulan and the warriors as she said, "Fa Mulan, General Shang, everyone…I would be honored if you would accept this as thanks for what you have done for us here today."

Everyone gasped as they saw what it was: a beautiful ice sculpture with a tiny snow cloud hovering a short distance above it. Around eight inches tall at its largest point, it showed the five Chinese warriors in various fighting positions, determined and confident looks upon their faces.

"Oh, Elsa, it's beautiful!" Mulan exclaimed in adoration, then became flustered as she remembered herself and said hastily, "Uh, I mean your Majesty!"

Elsa chuckled as she said, "Elsa's fine. I created a miniature flurry to remain over it to keep it frozen, much like the one I'd created before to protect my friend Olaf during the summer months, but I don't know if it'll still work once you're back home. I've never had the chance to test the range of my powers before."

Mulan then bowed and took the statuette from Elsa as she said, "I will care for it with honor, your Majesty. Thank you."

"I'm sorry that I also don't have something that beautiful to offer as my thanks," Julian said with a wry smile.

"The way you've been living your life is thanks enough," Mulan replied with a smile, then with a last glance at the distant knot of ships carrying the Southern Isle Princes and the former Duke, she added, "Just continue to help people, no matter how backwards their society may be."

"Indeed," General Shang agreed, then with a glance at Elsa he said, " 'To meet an old friend in a distant country, or even to make a new one, is like a delight of rain after a long drought.' Even if we should never meet again, your Majesties, I shall never forget our encounter."

"Nor shall I," Chien Po said with a bow.

"Me either," agreed Ling.

"What they said," said Yao awkwardly.

"Julian, Queen Elsa, everyone: Farewell, my friends," Mulan said at the last, then she turned and followed the others as they passed through the cascading waters and vanished.

Elsa felt a knot of discomfort as she believed that Julian was going to be leaving right away himself, but as it turned out his preparations for departure would take even longer. He apparently had insisted on returning all of the items he'd borrowed to prepare for their defense to where they came from, and even to repair all the windows that got broken as a result. Elsa wasn't sure how he'd managed it, as there was no metal content in glass that she knew of, but then Julian launched into an explanation involving things such as "electrons" and "molecules" that she found even more confusing, so in the end she simply accepted that he could without understanding how.

When they finally returned to the harbor, Elsa saw that her parents and sister had been busy during that time as well.

"What is this?" Julian asked in surprise.

"This is our family's thanks for what you have done for us and our kingdom," Elsa's father answered as he gestured towards to the new addition in the harbor. It was a boat. Smaller than the one that her parents returned in (and that Julian's apparently used to be), yet larger than a life boat, it looked large enough for perhaps a crew of four as well as supplies and cargo.

"I had it purchased from one of our local fishermen, along with a promise to have a new one crafted for him right away. I figured it'd serve you better than that wreck you arrived in," her father explained, "I had the hold stocked with enough provisions to last you a while, and a small amount from the royal treasury to purchase more when you run out. It's not much, compared to what you've done for us, but I figured the provisions would serve you better when you're on your own."

"I really don't deserve this," Julian said, "but I accept your generosity."

"Nonsense, it was the least we could do," Elsa's father insisted, "We also placed a small store of scrap metal in the hold so you can modify the ship as you need to handle it on your own."

"I appreciate that, your Lordship. Thanks." Julian relied with a nod of his head.

"I'm glad to hear that," Elsa's mother added, "We took the liberty of having the guards move what little we could identify as personal belongings onboard, including that gong you used, but if you'd like to check to see if we'd missed anything?"

Julian nodded, then moved over to the wreckage. After a moment's examination, he pulled out the tattered remains of a flag and the ship's figurehead.

"Are you sure we can't persuade you to stay? A hero such as yourself has every right to settle down in a place he helped so much." Elsa's father asked him as he walked back towards them and his new ship. Elsa was glad he had, for if she was honest with herself that was what she wanted as well. The only reason she had not given voice to that request was she had put herself in his shoes, and by so doing realized that she too would want to try and find her way home again, no matter what was waiting for her there.

"I am sure, your Lordship, though I thank you for your offer," Julian gently declined, "As long as there is any hope of finding my way back home, my quest goes on."

"Well, should you ever change your mind, you'll always be welcome here," Elsa's mother said with a sad smile.

"Will I….will we ever see you again?" Elsa asked, giving voice to the question she was afraid she might already know the answer to.

"I don't know," Julian admitted, "The Fates can be rather capricious, and having met them once I should know, but if they're willing it may be possible."

Elsa looked into his eyes for a moment longer, and she could swear saw the same longing there that was in her own. Then she looked down towards the ground to avoid meeting them, afraid that she might be tempted to beg him to stay, an action she would surely hate herself for if he gave in.

A movement from Julian drew her eyes upwards again, and she saw that he had pulled something from a hidden pocket on his suit. As he opened his hand, she saw that it held a pair of gems within it. One larger than the other, they appeared as precious as anything contained with their treasury, yet they were unlike any stones he'd ever seen, for they seemed to glow with their own internal light.

"What are they?" Elsa asked, distracted for the moment by what he held.

"I'm not entirely sure," Julian confessed, "I'd traveled all over space and time, across multiple timelines, and I'd only ever found them in one place. What I do know it that they emit a unique energy wavelength that I can detect from anywhere and anywhen." He then held up the larger one as he said, "When I was lost in the void between time streams, the light emitted from where the stones were was so bright it helped me to find my way back to the world again. I've been leaving them at different waypoints where I might possibly find my way home from." He then flicked the stone into the air, and it continued to travel upwards until it imbedded itself into the giant snowflake at the castle's peak. "Now I'll always be able to find my way back here," Julian explained.

He then held up the other stone as he said, "These ones, on the other hand, react to the emotional wavelengths of sentient beings, much like a mood ring."

"Like a what?" Anna asked in confusion.

"A mood ring," Julian said again, "It's sort of a novelty item back at the city….never mind. The point is when it is clutched tightly, it picks up on the emotions that person is feeling at the time and it emits a energy wavelength unique to that mood." He then raised his hand towards the pier's wall and a thin ribbon of gold flowed out from between the cracks towards him, then it wrapped itself around the stone until it resembled a simple pendant which he handed out to Elsa.

"It's beautiful," Elsa said softly as she took the pendant in hand, "but why are you giving this to me?"

"Much like the waypoint stone, I'll be able to sense the energy from your pendant no matter where or when I am," Julian explained, "If you find yourself in trouble, in a situation that you cannot get out of even with all your power, then just squeeze your pendant tightly. I'll pick up on your feelings of distress and either I'll come help you out myself or, if I'm unable to, I'll ask one of my other friends to come to your aid."

Suddenly the pendant seemed much more precious to her. Even though he was leaving, quite possibly forever, he was still determined to protect her. "I'll treasure it always," Elsa said while clutching the pendant to her heart, fighting the onset of tears.

Julian laid a comforting hand on her shoulder as he said, "I'm sure I don't have to tell you this by this point, but I'd like to leave you with this piece of advice; 'Never let the fear of life's unknowns keep you from living it.' "

Elsa simply nodded, not trusting her voice to be steady enough to reply verbally. Julian then turned towards Anna and said, "I know that you once said, shortly after your sister fled after her accidental public display of powers, that you were 'completely ordinary'. However, I'm not so convinced that was true."

"Well, apparently I can swing a mean frying pan," Anna said sheepishly.

"Well, yeah, there's that," Julian said with a chuckle, "but that's not what I meant. When Elsa accidentally froze your heart, you managed to keep from freezing solid that entire time, and even got within a few steps of Kristoff saving you from the 'curse'. However, when you saw Hans about to execute your sister, you ended up freezing solid just as you threw yourself between them, providing the perfect shield to save her life. Why do you think that happened?"

"I don't know," Anna admitted, "a lucky coincidence?"

"Possible, but I don't think that's very likely," Julian countered, "in my travels I've encountered grand plans and clandestine schemes, ordinary people who chose to take opportunities presented them and ended up becoming legendary. I've seen prophecies come to pass and people who chose to take hold of their own destinies. I have yet to encounter a coincidence."

"My theory, and this is only a theory mind you," Julian continued, "is that you might have had a gift of your own when you were young, one that had yet to manifest itself. However, when the troll elder removed the magic that Elsa had accidentally hit you in the head with, he might have inadvertently removed your own talent as well."

"You're saying that if it weren't for the accident we had as kids, then Anna might have had powers like me?" Elsa asked as she looked up again.

"That is the basis of my theory, yes," Julian confirmed, "It may have took a different form, or even been something completely unrelated to your own ice powers. We may never know now. However, while Grandpabby might have accidentally removed your gift along with the magic that was harming you, the potential still remained. And so, when Elsa's magic was working from your heart, freezing you from the inside out, I think that you had subconsciously took control over the power consuming you, slowing its progress when you were fighting to stay alive, and willing it to take you completely when you went to protect your sister."

"So, if I were to be struck with Elsa's ice magic again…" Anna started.

"I wouldn't recommend it," Julian said with a smile, "It's only a theory, and one that might end up not ringing true. All I'm saying is that if said theory pans out to be more accurate than not, then it's possible that something in the future might end up reawakening your talent, or even jumpstarting a new one within you. If that happens, don't be afraid to come to your sister for advice, for as I'd hoped to be Elsa's mentor, so too can she now be yours. In the event you turn out to be not so 'ordinary', that is."

"Thanks," Anna replied, "I'll do that."

Finally, Julian turned towards Elsa's parents and said, "My Lord and Lady: when I saved you from that storm that would have claimed your lives 3 years ago, I was only trying to reunite your daughters with the parents that had been so cruelly ripped from them just before their lives took such a dramatic turn. I had not considered that it might cause Queen Elsa to lose her crown, even if it would have only been for a few years or so, nor that it would have set into motion the events we had to go through today. I am glad that things managed to turn out okay in the end, and that you decided to let Elsa keep her crown while sticking around to help her become the young lady we all know she can be. The advice I'd like to leave you with is this: the second chance I'd bought for you is best spent not dwelling on the mistakes of the past, but rather by making the most of the opportunities the future has to offer you."

"We'll do that," Elsa's father said with a small bow, "thank you."

"You take care of yourself now, noble Julian," Elsa's mother added.

Julian then nodded and stepped onto the boat's deck, turning back towards them one last time to say, " My lord and ladies, my Queen, everyone: farewell." Then he raised the sails and cast off.

As the ship sailed across the distance towards the gateway, Olaf strode up to Elsa and asked, "Why did you not tell Julian how you feel about him?"

Elsa, who did not realize that she'd still been clutching the pendant Julian had given her tightly in her hands until that moment, turned to look down at him and asked, "What? How do you…?" Then she sighed and opened her hand to look upon the pendant once again. For what felt like the millionth time, Elsa wondered how it was that the friend she'd accidentally created with her powers could be so simple and naive in some areas, yet so amazingly perceptive in others. "I just couldn't," Elsa finally answered, "Getting back home, making things right there as much as he can, that meant so much to him. I couldn't do anything that might take that away from him."

"Because you love him," Olaf said simply, "His need to go was more important to you than your need for him to stay."

"You might be right about that," Elsa confessed.

"And if he doesn't make it back?" Anna asked as she strode up to lay a comforting arm around Elsa's shoulders, "If his trip back home…turns out to be his last?"

"I honestly don't know," Elsa said as she undid the clasp in the pendant's chain so she could place it around her neck, then she placed one hand lightly on it as it rested over her heart and added, "If it was meant to be, then surely we'll see each other again."

* * *

As he sailed on out past the gate, Julian mentally chastised himself. Why did he have to let those people have hope that he might return one day when no such hope existed? Why he let _her_ hope? Julian was sure that if it had been _anybody_ else, then he would have simply and gently let them know that he would not be returning. After all, the debt he still had to repay back home was not something that could be settled by simply saying "I'm sorry".

No, when he finally made his way back home his days would be few in number then, and yet he still let that girl believe there was a possibility that he might return. At the time, he told himself that he simply couldn't bear to see anymore pain in her eyes. However, when the days pass with ever greater frequency and he still did not return, would that not then be even _more_ cruel? Julian did not need to look into the timestream to know that to be a fact, as the heartbreak that he'd felt resonating from the pendant he'd given Elsa until just a moment ago was answer enough, an emotion that caused pangs within his own heart. Even the hope that he felt coming from it now was, in it's own way, even worse, for he knew the heartbreak would eventually follow worse than ever.

Worst of all was that when he told Elsa those things, allowed her to believe in a possibility that he may return, Julian had felt himself start to believe it as well. Why would he let himself hope for something that had no chance of coming to pass? Even now Julian felt an extremely strong temptation to end his quest here, to just turn the boat around and find his peace in this kingdom that had accepted him with open arms. However, as compelling as that urge was, his determination to see his quest through to the end was even greater. Julian had run away from his problems once, and even though he had learned much in his time away he never stopped regretting his decision. No matter what he had to do to make things right, he would never shy away from his problems again.

No, there was almost no chance he would ever be able to come back here again, but he would keep his promise to keep Queen Elsa safe to the end of his days, no matter how long that would be or even if he had to do it from a distance. If anyone deserved a long and happy life, it was her, and Julian felt that he might have given Elsa a good foundation for the latter with his last bits of advice to her sister and parents.

Before his heart could give him any further justifications for remaining, Julian opened a portal on the water's surface and rolled his craft into it, focusing on his next destination in the timestream. If he'd sailed on a little further, however, he might have spotted a ship lurking just on the other side of the ridge that dipped into the sea, as ship that was stained as crimson as blood, and whose flag was as black as pitch, save for the skull and crossbones upon it; and he might have noticed the grizzled man gazing from the aft railing at the castle through his spyglass, a man whose cruel smile boded ill for those who resided inside.

_Elsa's adventures will continue in "**Second Star…**"_


End file.
